Interrogation of a Vampire
by ucsbdad
Summary: A crossover between Castle and The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice. Chapter Sixteen. The story is now COMPLETE! (Or is it?)
1. Chapter 1

Interrogation of a Vampire

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own neither Castle nor Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice. Rating: M, here and there. Time: Not now.

 **Author's note: Those of you who have read my Four of a Kind and Alexis's in Wonderland in the Castle fanfics will know I used a character named Simone Renoir, who was also Stana Katic's character in the Librarian movie. This story is about the vampire Simone Renoir, not my character.**

Simone Renoir felt the first rays of the sun touch her face. She rested her head on Flynn's shoulder, knowing that her life of over four hundred years would soon be over and she would be dead and a vampire no more. She reached over and took his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I love you, Flynn." She murmured.

"I love you, too." He choked back the tears he felt.

She could feel herself getting warmer and knew that her long, long life as a vampire would soon be over and her soul would finally be at rest. She took a deep breath, then opened her eyes to watch her first sunrise in centuries. _It's so beautiful._ She thought. _If only I could watch longer._

She continued watching, happy to die in the arms of a man she loved. She saw the sun was now completely above the horizon. _Completely above the horizon? How could that be?_

She sat upright. "Flynn, I'm not dead."

"I'm not complaining."

She looked around, frowning. "What do you have in your hand?"

"Your hand. We're holding hands."

"No, the other hand, silly."

"Oh. The Judas Chalice. I didn't want to lose it."

"It was pressing against me when the sun rose. It did something. I'm not dying. Flynn! What did you do?"

"Me? Nothing. I was just sitting here waiting for you to…." He couldn't say the last word.

"It's daylight. Flynn, I'm tired. It's daylight. I should be resting. Leave me here and perhaps I'll…."

She was cut off when Flynn picked her up in his arms and headed for the now empty plantation house where Dracula had tried to regain his strength using the Judas Chalice.

"What are you doing? Put me down."

"I'm taking you inside. It's not good for lady vampires to be out and about in the daylight."

"Don't be…." Her eyes closed and she lost consciousness.

Once inside, Flynn Carsen put her gently down on a bed, then gathered up blankets and closed off all of the windows until the room was dark. Then he lay down beside her and checked her. She had no vital signs, which was normal for a vampire, but she hadn't disintegrated like the other vampires had the night before. Flynn snuggled next to her and slept.

Simone woke as usual at nightfall.

"Flynn?" She looked around. "Flynn?" He couldn't have left her, could he?

"Simone? Everything okay?"

"Where were you?"

"I'm not used to sleeping in the daytime. I woke up after a couple of hours and looked around." He held up a key ring. "We have a car. I can drive you back to your place."

Simone stood up and wobbled on her feet a bit. "I haven't fed. I'm weak. I'm tired."

Flynn raised his head, exposing his neck to her. "If you need blood that badly…"

She smiled at him. "I would never feed on you. Never. I'd die first." She sat back down on the bed, heavily.

"I need to get you home." He picked her up and carried her to the car. All the way back to New Orleans Simone sat listlessly in her seat, not saying a word. Arriving at her apartment, he carried her to her bedroom and opened the refrigerator where she stored her blood. She drained two bags quickly.

"Much better." She said, smiling at him. "But what happened? I was exposed to sunlight. When that happens to us…Poof! We're gone."

"The Judas Chalice has something to do with it, I guess."

"But how?"

Flynn thought, then shook his head. "The legends said that the Chalice would bring dead vampires back to life, but Lazlo, or rather, Dracula, was already alive. Or as alive as vampires get, I mean…"

"I know, Flynn." Simone smiled at him.

"So, there's more to the Judas Chalice than we know. Dracula used it to change himself from a weak, crippled vampire to a powerful one. The thing is, I don't know how."

"Could the legends be wrong? Does the Chalice strengthen a vampire? That would explain why I didn't go poof."

"Or maybe the Chalice has many properties, depending on who uses it, or how it's used, or anything."

"Flynn, I do love you, but my soul needs a rest. I'm very, very old. Perhaps if I sat outside in the sun for a long while, I'd finally die."

"No!" He said quickly. "I don't want you to die."

Simone kissed him softly. "We don't always get what we want."

"Precisely. We don't know what the chalice did to you, except…"He began running his hand over her face. "You have a little sunburn on your face and hands."

Simone laughed. "Sunburn? I'm the first vampire ever to get a sunburn. How absurd."

"The point is, we don't know what will happen. Maybe you can sit in the sun all day long and nothing. Or maybe you'll live in agony for centuries. Or anything in between. We have to be careful."

"Flynn, I love you, but…"

"And I love you."

"But," She said firmly, "I have loved humans. Just two since…You know. And I had to watch them grow old and die while I remained twenty five forever. I can't go through that again."

"Perhaps you won't have to. I'm a Librarian. I have all of the knowledge of The Library at my beck and call. Well, sort of. A substantial fraction anyway. Sixty two percent to be exact. Maybe we can find a way. At least we can give it a try. And we have to make sure that nothing disastrous will happen to you. Okay? Come with me to New York and give it a try." Flynn leaned in and kissed her, running his hand along her cheek.

"I don't know. It might…" He stopped her mouth with his own. Finally they broke the kiss. "How did you get so good at convincing vampires?"

"I'm a Librarian." He held ups a set of car keys. "We have a car to use and I can charter a jet to take us to New York. If we plan it right, we can get out of New Orleans…. "

"Flynn, please. It's Nawlins. We're in Nawlins."

"And go to New York and The Library.

"Noo Yawk?"Simone said with an exaggerated accent.

"New York." He said slowly.

"New York." She repeated, grinning.

"So you'll go?"

"You'll have to carry me off of the plane once we get there. I won't be able to feed while I'm around people, and the sun may have damaged me somehow."

"Are you okay now?" He asked, worried.

"Okay A bit tired, but normal."

"Completely normal?" He asked, pulling her into a kiss.

She mumbled something around his tongue that he took for a yes, and slid one hand over her breast while the other cupped her ass.

She broke the kiss. "We have too many clothes on." She whispered and began undoing her top.

He reached behind her for the zipper of her skirt. "Can I help?"

She undid his belt. "Only if I can, too."

They shed their clothes in seconds, then Simone picked Flynn up and carried him to the bed, putting him down gently and then lying beside him.

"Kind of a role reversal there." He said.

She shrugged. "Vampires are very strong, but we appreciate gentleness."

He kissed her lips lightly, then kissed down her neck and began kissing her taut nipples, flicking them with his tongue, moving from one to another, then sucking one boob into his mouth as far as he could while squeezing the other. Then he began kissing down her stomach. He'd hardly reached her navel when she pulled him gently up.

"I appreciate gentleness, but right now I need you inside of me."

He ran his hand up her thigh and found she was already wet. "Inside it is." He rolled over on top of her and entered her at once. "You are ready."

"Very ready, Flynn. More ready than I've been in years."

He entered her easily and began a steady rhythm. Simone put her arms around him and locked her legs behind his back as she pushed up to meet him. Perhaps it was because he had just come so close to losing her, but he felt he wasn't going to last long. "Simone, I'm not going to be able…" Before he could complete the sentence, her arms and legs tightened around him like steel boa constrictors and she moaned his name. "So good, Flynn. The best. You're the best." And then she relaxed. Seconds later her climaxed and gently kissed her as he rolled off of her.

"You make me the best." He whispered.

Flynn's connections with the Library got him a chartered jet to New York and a car to meet them right by the plane when they go there. Simone made it to the car all by herself and Flynn headed for the Library.

He wasn't too surprised to see Charlene, who handled administrative functions for the Library, working at her desk, even though it was several hours before dawn. "Flynn, is there some reason you can't take a commercial flight from New Orleans?" She asked.

"I had to take Simone with me and she has….special needs."

"Simone?" Charlene asked, looking at the woman with Flynn for the first time.

"My girlfriend and the love of my life." He put his arm around her and pulled her to him.

"Special needs? Do you have any idea…."

"She's a vampire."

Charlene shook her head. "Flynn, really a…."

Simone smiled, showing her fangs. "Really, a vampire. I need to avoid sunlight, although I'm not sure how it would affect me now. The Judas Chalice, you know."

"Flynn, you can't bring….Wait! You found the Judas Chalice? And why…"

Flynn interrupted. "I need to go see Judson. Do you know if he knows much about vampires?"

He took Simone's arm and began walking away. Charlene gets up from her desk and begins following them into the Library itself.

"Where is Judson?" He called over his shoulder to Charlene.

"He said he'd be in the Biblical Section." Charlene said worriedly. "He's been expecting something."

"He'll get two somethings today."

Simone whispered in his ear. "You're the only one who gets my two somethings."

Flynn laughed and kissed her as they walked.

At the Ancient Roman Section they turned at the chariot Gaius Julius Caesar used in his Gallic triumph and cut through the Conquistadores area, examining a few relics from La Noche Triste as they passed.

"You'd look great in a gold tiara."

Simone frowned. "With my pale skin? I think not."

Suddenly, they came face to face with Judson, the head Librarian. "Flynn, what's this I hear about you taking up with a vampire?"

Simone curtsied to him. "I'm so glad to meet you, Mr. Judson. I've heard so many good things about you. And, yes, I am a vampire." She smiled, showing her fangs. "Please don't blame Flynn for this."

Flynn stepped forward. "Perhaps I should explain."

Flynn explained what had happened to him in New Orleans and why he needed the resources of the Library to find out what kind of changes the Judas Chalice had made in Simone and especially if any were dangerous.

Judson nodded. "There have been friendly vampires before." He grinned. "I remember in Rome once…" He stopped. "Perhaps I shouldn't tell that story. Anyway, you should find what you want in the J's for Judas." He stopped and thought. "Or under the C's for chalice. Perhaps V for vampire. Then again…"

Flynn cut him off. "We'll just start looking now."

They decided to start with the letter J and walked to that section of the Library. Flynn pulled out some likely looking volumes and they began reading.

After a while, Simone spoke. "Flynn! Here. This is a manuscript written by a monk in Italy in 1144 CE, copied from a third century manuscript. It talks about what the chalice was made of….Thirty pieces of silver….Where it was made….Who made it and….Yes! Here. "The Chalice is said to have many strange and magical powers, including…." She had reached the end of the page, which she quickly turned. "What? The next page is blank. The page after that….Is from another manuscript!"

They searched the whole volume, but found nothing that related to the Judas Chalice.

"Another volume?" Flynn asked, but when he looked at Simone, he saw her eyelids drooping. "Simone, are you okay?"

"Hmm?" She said sleepily.

He checked his watch. "The sun has been up for more than two hours. We should get you to bed."

She giggled. "Is that all you think about?"'

"There's a bed just a little way from here in the French Revolution section." Flynn picked her up and carried her to the bed.

"Oooh! I know this one. It belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette of France."

"Have you been in her bed before?"

"No, silly. I like boys, not girls. I like one boy a lot, you know. He's…." Simone's eyelids closed.

He put her on the bed and lay down with her, wrapping his arms around her.

Simone woke up shortly after sunset and went looking for Flynn, finding him in the C's. "Looking under chalice?"

He nodded. "And found nothing." He got up, walked over and put his arms around her. "How come you stayed awake past your bedtime? Are you okay?"

She looked down at herself. "I feel okay, but perhaps you should feel me to make sure?" She teased.

He stroked her face. "I'm serious. I don't want anything to happen to you. Do you think it was because being inside The Library you couldn't tell if it was light out? Or maybe it was The Library itself? It can have an effect on people."

She shrugged. "I have no idea. Normally, I would…rest as soon as it was light, no matter where I was. " Then she slapped him lightly on the chest. "Why didn't you stay in bed with me? Don't you love me?" She pouted.

"Of course I do. I'm just having trouble sleeping in the daytime and being awake at night."

She smiled. "Flynn, will you take me out for dinner?"

"Where are we going to find blood?"

"No, silly. Food. I can eat a bit of very rare meat now and again. Please?"

Flynn managed to find a nice restaurant where they could get a reservation at once. Simone ordered a very rare filet mignon that came with potatoes and green peas. "I don't eat my veggies, but I still do all right."

Surprisingly, Simone ate the whole steak and then finished off her vegetables and then asked for dessert.

"Flynn, something is wrong with me. I don't eat like that." She looked around her. "Flynn, I'm frightened."

"Show me your fangs." When she did so, he felt better. "You're still a vampire but the chalice has changed you. Do you want to go back to my place or back to The Library?"

"I want to see your place. You do want me to live there with you, don't you?"

Simone was not impressed with Flynn's place. The first thing she saw was a pile of dirty dishes on the kitchen counter. That was because the sink was already full of dirty dishes. "You've been eating take out for some time?" She said, pointing to a stack of boxes and bags competing for space on the counter.

Flynn smiled. "I've been meaning to wash those as soon as I could remember to get some dishwashing detergent."

Simone rummaged around under the sink. You have two containers here." Simone began cleaning off the dishes and loading the dishwasher.

"You're a lot more domestic than I'd expect a vampire to be."

"Based on your vast experience with us?"

Flynn tried to help Simone, but she chased him away. In no time, she had the kitchen cleaned up. She smiled at Flynn. "Now the bedroom."

"You don't have to clean that."

"Who said anything about cleaning it, silly?"

Simone did have to shove some dirty clothing into a corner, then undressed and hung her clothes up neatly. She took Flynn's hand and led him to the bed. On finding the mattress to be lumpy, she opted for the female astride position, then snuggled up against him. Flynn soon went to sleep, but Simone who slept days, had other things to do.

The next day, Flynn worked in the Library while Simone napped in Marie Antoinette's bed. She woke up several times to help him, and once to make love. When they were done for the day, she had a surprise for Flynn.

"A surprise? What is it?"

"I can't tell you. It's a surprise." They got a cab and headed towards Central Park. The cab stopped in front of a brownstone that fronted the park.

"Do you know someone who lives here?" Flynn asked, hoping Simone didn't have an old boyfriend living here.

"Indeed I do. A wonderful man named Flynn Carsen lives here with his beautiful girlfriend, Simone Renoir."

Before Flynn could reply, she ran up the steps and into the house. He followed, finding her standing in the entry hall, looking at the living room.

"Simone, honey, I can't possibly afford to live here. I couldn't afford a tenth of this."

She pouted. "I bought it last night online. Well, actually, we're renting until escrow closes." She took his hand and led him through the house. "I've rented furniture and I've arranged to have my things sent here from Nawlins, and I even found a nice blood supplier. He thinks I'm doing research."

He slid his arm around her waist. "Simone, I can't let you spend this kind of money on me."

"What kind of money?" She said, looking puzzled.

Flynn gestured around them. "This must cost millions…"

She shrugged. "It's a bit over seven million, but three bedrooms and three and a half baths, and nearly three thousand square feet…."She stopped and looked at him. "Don't you like it?"

"Seven million?" Flynn gasped. "How are we ever going to pay for this?"

She out her arms around him and hugged him. "I'm rather good with money, you know. And I have been at this for nearly four hundred years." She kissed him. "I just want us to be comfortable and have a nice place."

"You're a millionaire?" He asked, not quite believing her.

She giggled. "A billionaire." She suddenly pouted. "Oh, you don't love me for my money do you?" Then laughed.

"No, I love you for your body….And your mind and your soul. I just love you."

"Good, since I love you, too. Now, let me show you the bedroom."

As Flynn and Simone kept working in the Library, with no success, he noticed some slight differences in her. She ate one or two meals a week, although they were all small meals, and she sometimes napped for an hour or at night and was awake for an equal amount of time in the day. Simone worried for a while, but as things didn't change more, she forgot about it.

Flynn, dressed in a tuxedo, was waiting for Simone to finish getting dressed. He had learned that even after four hundred years, Simone took a long time to get dressed. "But it's worth every minute of the wait." He said to himself.

She walked out of their bathroom in a stunning black dress that accentuated her pale complexion. Her only jewelry was a blood red ruby pendant that the pirate Lafitte had given her. "I'm ready." She announced. "And thank you so much for taking me to the opera. Having been an opera singer when I was…"She stopped. "I love opera."

"More than happy, Simone. Although I don't go to the opera much."

"How often?" She asked smiling.

"This is my second time. But I had a real good time my first time."

"When was that?"

"I was sixteen. My mother took me, but there was this really cute girl sitting next to me…"

Simone frowned. "You hate opera and you only want to go to pick up other women"

"Simone, no. I don't hate opera because I don't know anything about it. And as for other women, I won't know there's another woman there." Flynn would have cause to remember that statement.

She was smiling again. "I'll tell you all about it. I'll whisper in your ear. Of course, we'll have to sit very close."

"Very close indeed."

Flynn was convinced that he was with the most beautiful woman in the whole of New York as they sipped champagne in the lobby of the opera house. Suddenly, Simone stiffened, then leaned into whisper in his ear. "We have to go inside."

"Why?"

"There's a woman over there who looks exactly like me."

Flynn slowly turned. The woman had chestnut hair rather than Simone's brown hair and it was longer, but her face and her body were the same as Simone's. He took Simone's arm. "Let's hope they aren't sitting beside us."

"Should we just leave?" She whispered.

"We'd have to walk right by them. Try to keep your head down when we get to our seats."


	2. Chapter 2

Interrogation of a Vampire

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: No, I don't. You know that. Rating: M, in places. Time: After Season Eight, before children.

 **Interrogation of a Vampire. Chapter Two**

"Captain Castle." She said sleepily into the phone by their bed.

Rick opened his eyes and tried to focus on the glowing numbers of the alarm clock. "It's a couple of minutes past five." He grumped.

Kate wrote something down and swung out of bed. "We have to go. This looks bad."

"Can we have breakfast?"

"No." She said, heading for the bathroom.

"Can I shower with you? It'll be quicker."

She laughed. "Yeah? When has you and me showering together ever been quicker."

"This could be the first time." She was already in the bathroom and he got no reply. "I'll start the coffee and then I'll shower and shave."

Not quite an hour later, they walked into the crime scene, a nice apartment just off Lexington. Lanie was already there, kneeling over the body. Ryan was talking to a young lady who could hardly tear her eyes away from the corpse. Espo was talking to a uniform that Castle didn't know. _They get younger every year._ He thought.

"Lanie, got an ID on the vic?"

Ryan answered that. He held up her purse. "Carolyn Welles, age twenty seven, recent law school grad, just started at Grace and Vollmer."

"She must have been pretty good." Castle said. "That's a really good law firm."

"Cause of death?" Kate asked.

"Freaky." Lanie replied.

"She died of freaky?" Kate asked, only a bit sarcastically.

"She bled to death."

Kate looked around. "Then she wasn't killed here, since there's no blood here."

Lanie shook her head. "No, she died right here. The roommate, Marci Sands, was gone for three hours to see a movie. The vic was here when she left. Based on that, time of death would be between nine and midnight. Esposito checked the doorman and the security cameras. She didn't leave. Both the front and the back exits and the garage is covered by security cameras. And the blood left in her has pooled under her. She hasn't been moved."

"Then what caused the death?"

Lanie pointed to two small puncture wounds on her neck. "I'd say the blood was sucked out of her."

"Cool. A real vampire killing." Rick enthused.

Kate just looked at him.

"Anything else?" She asked Lanie.

The ME looked down at the corpse. "Given the unusual nature of this, I'd like to get her back to the morgue before I make any other statements."

Kate stood up and walked over to Ryan. "Get anything from the roommate? Angry ex-boyfriends, unhappy co-workers…."

"People who only drop by at night?" Castle interrupted.

"There are no vampires." Kate said quietly.

"Maybe the CIA had…"

"No. The CIA didn't."

"A brilliant scientist could have…"

She shook her head. "No, he couldn't have."

"Someone who thinks he's a vampire?"

Kate thought for a second. "Maybe. But not until we get actual evidence she knew someone like that."

Castle smiled happily.

"The roommate said our vic had a boyfriend until about three months ago. But he left to take a job in Washington, DC. Apparently the break up was amicable. They both put their careers first. But, I'll check him out." Espo advised them.

"Castle and I will head back to the precinct and then we'll go visit her job and see what they know."

Castle was impressed with the offices of Grace and Vollmer. "Carpets that are so thick and soft you could sleep on them, beautiful furniture, first class artwork on the walls and none of the magazines in the waiting room is over a month old. Five stars all the way."

"If things had worked out differently, I'd be working in someplace like this." Kate waited a beat and added. "And we'd never have met."

"Of course we would have. I'd have come here for legal advice on how to convince the NYPD that I was kidnapped by a police horse. We would have fallen in love instantly and lived happily ever after."

Kate smiled at her husband. "Dream on."

Rick did his best to look hurt. "We were meant for each other. The Universe…"

They were interrupted by a young woman. "Captain Castle? Mr. Grace can see you now. This way, please."

Edmund Grace was in his late forties and could have passed for being in his thirties. Castle appreciated his well-cut bespoke suit and his hand tailored shirts. He was only a fraction of an inch shorter than Rick and appeared to be in excellent physical shape. He smiled at them and held out his hand as they walked into his office. Castle thought the smile was what a man who either really liked people would give, or the smile of a man who was too rich and powerful to feel intimidated by anyone.

"Captain Castle, Mr. Castle, please have a seat. Can we get you a coffee? Water?"

Kate shook her head. "We'd like to get to the point."

"Excellent." Grace said and sat on the edge of his desk.

Kate ran through the file she had brought, not because she didn't know it completely, but to try to put Mr. Grace a little off balance. Rick used the opportunity to look at the office. It was larger than the first floor of their loft, had floor to ceiling windows with a view of the Manhattan skyline and the Hudson. Behind Grace's desk was a nice cartoon that Picasso had dashed off, allegedly just before he painted Guernica.

"I'm surprised you're seeing us yourself, Mr. Grace. I asked to see Ms. Welles' immediate supervisor." Kate began.

"That would be me. I'm working on a rather large merger and I have a team of some eleven people who work directly for me. Carolyn was one of them. In addition, I wanted to be the one to tell you so you got your information from me. Carolyn and I were sleeping together."

Kate nodded. "Was this a long term relationship?"

Grace shook his head. "We had been together for about three months. And I do realize that this makes me a suspect."

"Can you tell us where you were last night between nine and midnight?"

"I was at a party at a client's home. His name is Phillipe de Grasse. I can provide you with his address and cell phone number. There were about thirty people there. I arrived a bit after eight and didn't leave until one AM."

"You didn't take Ms. Welles?" Rick asked.

"We were trying to keep the relationship low key and…Phillipe is both boring and self-centered." Grace suddenly frowned.

"Something wrong?" Kate asked.

"I just remembered. Before I left the office I told Carolyn that she was lucky she wasn't going to the party because she'd be bored to death."

Kate nodded. That was the sort of thing that might haunt someone. "Mr. Grace, you can't blame yourself. You might think that she'd be alive today if you'd taken her to the party. But you had no way of knowing. The only person to blame is the killer. Not you."

"I suppose you're right, but I still can't help but think…"He said no more.

"If we could have the names of the people on the team with Ms. Welles?"

The other ten people on the team all knew that Welles and Grace were sleeping together. One man even ventured a guess as to which member of the team would take her place in Grace's bed. "He goes for the brainy types." He had said. "Abagail is a shoe in. Theresa's a frightened little virgin, and Mary Ellen is too….forward. She might as well have a sign on that says "Open for business. Immediate occupancy."

However, no one could think of anyone who would have a motive to murder the woman.

When Rick and Kate got back to the precinct, she checked with Sergeant Morton who had a desk right outside Kate's office. Sergeant Morton was tall, very slim and painfully shy. How she got into a profession that valued bulk and a take charge personality, no one knew, but Morton had. Kate had found the woman to be the perfect administrative aide. She had managed to keep her contact with the paperwork of the precinct to a minimum thanks to Sergeant Morton which allowed her to be a detective more of the time.

Esposito and Ryan came to her office door. "Guess who's in town from Washington, DC?"

"Welles's old boyfriend?" Kate guessed.

"Correct-o-mundo." Espo replied.

"And we got something off of her voicemail from yesterday." Ryan put her phone down on Kate's desk and went to her voicemail. "Christ, Carolyn. It's not like you didn't spread your legs for half of the damned law school. And who kept quiet when he found you on your knees in front of a certain married professor? You must have started banging your boss about an hour after I left for DC. And you don't have time for me now? Fuck you."

''So, do we have a name to go with this? And an address?"

Espo nodded. "Bob Wohl, works as an attorney for the EPA. In town for some sort of tree huggers get together. He's staying at the Fairwick. Got in two days ago."

Kate smiled. "I think we need to talk to Mr. Wohl."

Although Wohl was an attorney, he had decided to talk. So far. They played the recording for him. He shrugged. "So?"

"I imagine you were upset that your old girlfriend wouldn't put out for you." Rick said.

"It's not like I never got turned down before."

"But you got turned down by a woman who spreads her legs for everyone, or so you say." Kate added.

"She did. I called her when I got into town. She said she was still screwing her boss, but that she'd have a night away from him. The night she was killed. Then she called back and said she couldn't meet me. She had a hot one on the line."

"Who?"

Wohl shrugged. "I don't know. It was some chick, though. Apparently the woman had never made it with a woman before and Carolyn was all hot and bothered about what she was going to do to her. I offered to help, and Carolyn said she'd ask."

"That would make you doubly angry, I'd think."

"She sent me a text. Said she wanted to be alone with the chick. That's when I sent the voicemail."

"Where were you between eight and eleven?" Kate asked.

Wohl frowned. "I met a guy named Ed something. He belongs to some sort of environmental organization. He offered to take me to a bar where he said there were lots of hot chicks."

"Does Ed have a last name? Anything we could identify him by?"

Wohl shook his head. "He's not an attorney, but he went to school somewhere in the New York area and I think he works on the West Coast. We split up when we got to the bar. That was maybe seven thirty?"

"The name of the bar?"

"I don't know."

"Where is it?"

"Again, I don't know. We went in a cab. Ed told the guy where to go. I didn't pay any attention."

"And?" Rick asked.

"I met a chick. Name was Pat, or Pam, maybe. We went back to her place. And I have no idea where it was. I had a buzz on by then. I left her place about three or so, walked to the nearest big street and took a cab back to the hotel."

"So you really have no alibi for the time of the murder?"

"I'm done talking."

Several hours later, they gathered in Kate's office and Ryan briefed them on what had been found. "Surveillance cameras in the hotel show him leaving at 7:12 PM. He said this Ed met him out on the street. There's no coverage that shows this Ed, assuming he exists."

"Does the hotel have a record of an Ed that might fit?" Castle asked.

"No, but there are people here for the conference staying at hotels all over town. We've had no luck locating the cab Wohl said took them to the bar, but we do have surveillance footage of him coming back at 3:19 AM. We got the cab medallion and talked to the cabbie. He picked Wohl up at the corner of eighteenth and fifty first. Wohl said he walked for three or four blocks to find a cab. There are thousands of apartments in that radius. We could spend years knocking on doors and asking if the occupant slept with Wohl."

"And get slapped in the face a lot." Rick added.

Kate shook her head unhappily. "So, he has no alibi but we have nothing to tie him to the murder. We'll have to cut him loose for the time being. We just don't have anything to hold him on." She turned to Ryan and Epsosito. "Keep digging in his life. Castle and I will see if we can find this alleged mystery girlfriend of Ms. Welles'."

That night, Kate reclined on the couch while Rick massaged her feet. "You could wear flats, you know, instead of four inch heels."

Kate smiled. "The added height is more useful dealing with One PP and the bureaucrats there than they ever were putting suspects at a disadvantage. And I need every advantage I can get in dealing with One PP. I'm not their idea of a precinct captain. I delegate too much of the paperwork to Sergeant Morton and I do too much investigating as if I were a detective again."

"Do you regret the promotion?"

She had to stop and think. "No. I have a lot better understanding of police work, I think. There are parts of it, such as the crime scene people that I never gave much thought to before. Now that they work for me, I understand what goes on there a lot better. I've learned about auto theft, robbery, fraud, even traffic. A lot of things."

"So, what are we going to do about Welles' mysterious female lover? We just scratched the surface today. There are about a hundred and twenty lawyers there, mostly male to be sure. However, there are hundreds of female paralegals, legal secretaries, file clerks, computer people, some librarians, and….I don't know what."

"With that many people, there must be some gossips. Someone who knows who's sleeping with who."

"Whom." Rick corrected.

"Whatever. We'll look for our gossip tomorrow."

They asked around at Grace and Vollmer the next day and were rewarded with the names of two gossips. Diana French was a lean and lovely woman who flirted endlessly with Kate, much to Rick's surprise and enjoyment. She was convinced that Carolyn Welles had been seeing someone else, other than Mr. Grace, but she had no idea who.

David Fellowes was the other gossip. To Kate's great amusement, he flirted with Castle. Kate would have loved to have sat there and watched Rick squirm, but she had to advise Mr. Fellowes that this was a police investigation and that time was of the essence.

Fellowes sighed. "Carolyn was a truly lovely girl. Friendly, happy go lucky, but a hard worker and very smart. A bit of a slut, you'll understand, but that's better than the people who claim sex should only be for reproduction."

"Do you know if she was with anyone other than Mr. Grace?" Kate asked.

Fellowes look around him and lowered his voice. "Mr. Grace likes to think he's very much the alpha male and that any woman would love to hop into bed with him and that she would never be sexually satisfied by anyone else. As if. He'd be very angry if he found out that Carolyn was sleeping with someone else, and she was. It wasn't anyone here, I can tell you that. Carolyn was very cagey about it, but you can tell if two people are together."

"Do you have any idea who it might have been?" That was Rick.

"She told me it was a very exciting affair. Apparently the young lady in question had never had lesbian sex before and had considered it…evil." Fellowes snickered. "Apparently Carolyn was teaching her differently. The woman was apparently a very conservative person. Carolyn liked the challenge."

Once back in Kate's car, they both said. "We need her phones and financials."

Kate smiled. "If she's not dating someone at her office, she's going to have to call her lover. She'll be going out with her, so her credit card bills should tell us something."

Back at the precinct they pulled her records. And they were disappointed.

"There's nothing here." Rick said after an hour of checking and cross checking her phones and financials. "All of her calls are business, or to people who can't be her mystery lover. And there's nothing in her credit card history."

"Patience, Grasshopper. Remember Mr. Holmes?"

"Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeremy Brett, or Basil Rathbone?" Castle asked.

"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes. The dog that didn't bark?"

"The dog…."Castle smiled. "She didn't have to call her lover because they lived together. The roommate, Marci Sands."

"We'll have Ryan and Espo check her out tomorrow. I have to go to One PP in the tomorrow morning. With any luck, I'll be out by noon. Care to buy your favorite police captain lunch?"

"I'd love to."

After lunch the next day, they called Ryan and Esposito into Kate's office. "Did you find anything?"

Espo smiled. "Oh, that we did. But not exactly what you thought. Welles' girlfriend is supposed to be some conservative chick who never had sex with a woman? Well, Ms. Sands likes to keep a photo album. She has photos of herself with a man, with men, with a woman, with women, with a man and a woman, with men and women, with…"

Kate stopped him. "I know you're running those photos through your mind as you speak, so she's not the one?"

Espo shook his head, still smiling. "No, but it seems Carolyn Welles was a bit of a shutterbug as well. We got this photo." He handed a photo to Kate. "It's really a nice clear shot of the other woman's head. And other parts."

"I hadn't noticed any parts." Rick said virtuously.

"I don't believe you, babe, but you get points for trying." She turned to Espo. "Did you canvas the building to see if anyone knows her?"

"Didn't need to. Ms. Sands said she lives two doors down. I thought we'd like to check out Ms. Connie Garrett before we talk to her."

Much to Espo's disgust, Rick and Kate did the interview. "She'll feel more comfortable with a woman and a married man." Kate had said.

"Thank you for coming in, Ms. Garrett." Kate said, trying to put the woman at ease. She had even put Ms. Garrett in the interview room usually used for people who weren't suspects. Connie Garrett was an attractive enough brunette, although very slender. She dressed conservatively and had little make up on.

"I don't know how I can help you, Captain. I barely knew Ms. Welles."

"I think "barely" is the operative word here." Rick said, pushing the photo of Welles and Connie Garrett across the table.

Garrett's eyes went wide. "Am I under arrest?" She squealed.

"Why would we arrest you?" Kate asked softly.

Garrett pointed at the photo. "For that." She was beginning to cry.

Kate gave Rick a look that said that she didn't think they had the killer. "Ms. Garrett, sex between consenting adults of the same sex is not illegal in New York."

"It isn't?"

Both Rick and Kate nodded.

"Well, it should be. It's a sin!" Garrett said forcefully.

"Ms. Garrett you do realize that you are…."Rick saw Kate shake her head slightly. He guessed this wasn't the time to argue with the woman about sexual mores.

"Can you tell us where you were the night Carolyn Welles died?"

The blonde nodded vigorously. "I was with my parents in Ridgewood, New Jersey. It was Mom's birthday. The whole family was there."

"We will have to check your alibi, you understand."

She looked at Kate. "Are you going to tell them about…that?" She pointed at the photo.

"Of course not."

Then Garrett really began to cry.

They got most of the phone numbers for the Garrett family from her phone. Kate had Ryan and Esposito call the relatives, all of whom confirmed that Connie Garrett had arrived about six o'clock and had stayed the night.

When Garrett's alibi had been confirmed, Kate, Rick and the two detectives went over what they had.

Kate summed up. "Our best suspect is still the ex-boyfriend, but we can't place him at the crime scene, or anyplace else, for that matter. And his motive is weak. He's a good looking, reasonably successful lawyer who appears to have no trouble finding dates. I don't really see him as our killer, although I've been wrong before."

"Hardly ever." Castle murmured.

"And our other possible suspects have good alibis." She concluded. "Let's go home and get some sleep and start up again tomorrow."

Early that morning, Kate got another call.

"Get up, lover. We have another vampire killing."


	3. Chapter 3

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Three

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Do you own Castle? I don't. Rating: M, in places. Time: After season eight, before children.

 **Interrogation of a Vampire. Chapter Three.**

Flynn Carsen leaned back and rubbed his eyes. Reading handwritten manuscripts written in Latin on vellum wasn't easy. He checked his watch. It was just after noon, so Simone should be fast asleep, or whatever it was she did when she wasn't awake. He hated to refer to her as dead. He thought he'd snuggle up next to her and take a nap. Resting his eyes would help and putting his arms around her would be an even bigger help.

When he got to the Marie Antoinette bed they used at the Library, he got a surprise. Simone was awake and reading from a small notebook. As soon as she saw him, she tucked the notebook down her blouse and turned away from him and laid down.

"Simone, I know you're not asleep." He crawled onto the bed and put his arms around her.

She just shook her head.

"Is something wrong?" He ran his hand lightly down her back.

"Yes."

"What?"

"I don't know."

"Then how do you know something's wrong?"

"I do."

"Whatever it is, we'll get through it. You know that."

She turned to him and hugged him tightly. He stroked her hair and then noticed she was crying. "Okay, now you're worrying me, Simone. What is it?"

She pulled the notebook out of her blouse. "When you touched me with the Chalice, you changed me."

"I know. You're still alive. I'm never going to apologize for that."

"There are other things. Look at the notebook. I've been keeping track. I sleep sometimes at night and I'm awake in the day, like now. And I eat. Vampires don't eat. We drink blood."

Flynn looked at the notebook and the entries in Simone's precise handwriting. "Simone you're asleep at night for less than an hour maybe once a week, and awake in the daytime even less." He ran his down the entries. "And you did not have a hot dog last Thursday. You nibbled on mine."

"I had three bites." Simone cried.

"Three tiny bites. It was hardly even one of my bites. And ice cream? You had one bite of my dessert."

"There's more."

Flynn flipped through the notebook but saw only notations on food and sleeping. "What?"

"I had a period."

"And that's a problem because….?"

"Vampires don't have periods."

"Well, I assume half of them wouldn't in any case because…"

She slapped his chest. "Flynn! I'm serious. Lady vampires don't have periods because we don't get pregnant. I had to go to that little store near our house while you were asleep a few nights ago. I had a vague idea of what I was looking for, but there are so many brands, and pads and tampons and I had no idea because I haven't worried about this in centuries and…."She stopped in midsentence and an odd look came on her face. "My birthday is in a week. I'll be four hundred and four."

"I don't know if I can get that many candles lit at once." Flynn said seriously.

"Flynn! This is a problem, and not about candles."

Flynn pulled her closer. "Okay, we'll be very careful when we make love and we'll get you on the pill, okay?"

"Birth control pills?"

"Sure. Then we'll be okay." Flynn wasn't too sure how birth control pills worked on vampires, but he decided they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

"Don't they require a doctor's prescription? Can you imagine me seeing a doctor? I have no vital signs." She lowered her voice. "I have some bad news for you, Ms. Renoir, you're dead. But aside from that, you're in excellent shape." Flynn, what will I do?"

"We have doctors that help out here at The Library. We'll get you some pills and everything will be okay." He kissed her, lightly brushing his lips across hers. "Don't worry, Simone. I love you and I always will."

Simone began to cry again. "I'm changing and becoming more human. Suppose I get old quickly. Suppose I suddenly become four hundred and I'm old and ugly and…" She rested her head on his chest and cried.

"No matter what, I love you. And I'll always love you. Okay?" Flynn remembered something he'd wanted to tell Simone. "Do you remember that woman we saw at the opera? The one who looked so much like you?"

Simone nodded. "Yes."

Flynn pulled out his phone, and showed her a photo he'd found on line of the woman. "I found out who she is. She's the wife of Richard Castle, a wealthy writer. He writes mysteries. He based his main character on his wife. She's an NYPD captain."

"She's the police?" Simone sat upright. "Is she after me? I've been chased by the police before. Not for a century or two, but they'll kill me if they find me." Simone made a slicing motion at her neck. "They'll chop my head off and…poof! I'm gone."

"Simone, don't worry. No one in New York outside of The Library believes that vampires exist. The police aren't after you." Actually, as Flynn and Simone would find out, there were several people in New York who believed vampires existed.

Simone's eyelids started to droop. "Can you stay with me for a while?" Then she closed her eyes. Flynn stayed with her for ten minutes or so and then went back to his search for an understanding of how the Judas Chalice had changed Simone and how he could keep it from harming the woman he loved.

It was a bit past sundown when Simone woke up and came into the room where Flynn was still reading.

"Can we go home?" She asked.

"What did you want to do at home?" He asked, smiling at her.

"Go to bed."

"But you sleep all day and you were just complaining about sleeping for a whole hour sometimes. Now you want to go to bed?"

She leaned over and kissed him, running her hand across his chest. "Yes, I do."

"Oh, that kind of going to bed. Okay, but we'll have to be careful, remember."

"Can I talk to you two for a second?"

Simone jumped away from Flynn. She hadn't seen or heard Judson approach. Flynn was used to the older man appearing and disappearing suddenly.

"Sure. What is it?" Flynn asked.

"There's a slight problem. I think you should know about it." Judson handed Flynn a newspaper, folded open to a particular article. Simone leaned over his shoulder so she could read it as well.

"A vampire." She said, shocked.

"We don't know that." Flynn said quickly.

"It's a vampire killing. I can tell. I just can. We know these things."

Flynn turned to Judson. "There is no way that Simone is involved in any way in this. She's been with me, ever since New Orleans." He out his arm around her waist and hugged her to him. "I won't let anything happen to her."

"And nothing will, Flynn. This is The Library, remember. We'd know if Simone did anything…unpleasant."

"How?" Simone asked.

Judson just smiled.

"So what do we do now?"

Judson shrugged. "I'm not sure. Vampire chasing isn't specifically in the remit of the Library, but given how broad our mission statement is, I'm not sure it couldn't be. Anyway, the police are investigating. In fact the precinct captain, a Kate Castle, is handling the investigation herself."

Simone sniffed. "Human police? After a vampire? They have no chance."

"Wait a minute." Flynn broke in. "Kate Castle?" He pulled out his phone and showed Judson the photo of Kate Castle he'd found on line. "This Kate Castle?"

Judson nodded. "That's her. She's in charge of the 12th Precinct. She's very, very good."

Simone snorted. "No matter how good she thinks she is, she's no match for a vampire. I'm going to have to help her."

"Simone, honey, it's too dangerous. You could get hurt, or…" He couldn't finish the rest.

"I can't let a vampire kill people and not try to stop it. I have to help."

"And how are you going to do that? You can't just walk in to a police station and say, "Hi, I'm Simone Renoir, a good vampire, here to help you catch a killer vampire." They'll think you're crazy. And once they see the resemblance between you and this Captain Castle, they'll get suspicious. They'll check into your background, test you and….I could lose you forever."

She smiled and kissed him. "So, I won't march into the police station and introduce myself. I'll be sneaky. We're very good at sneaky."

"What are you going to do?" Judson asked.

She checked her watch. "It's dark out now. I'll just go by the crime scene. The police should be well gone by now, I'll look around and come right back home."

"I'm coming with you."

She put her hand on his chest. "No. I can simply dematerialize and appear somewhere else close by. You can't. I don't want to lose you either, Flynn. "She looked down at what she was wearing. "I should go home first and change into something more suitable for sneaking around. Let me just get my things."

As she picked up her purse and notebook, Judson smiled at Flynn. "Quite a woman you have there."

Flynn just smiled back and went after Simone.

Once back at their brownstone, Simone changed into a pair of skinny jeans, a dark tee shirt and a black leather jacket. She added a scarf, a pair of sunglasses and a baseball hat.

"Sunglasses at night?"

She shrugged. "Some people think it's cool to wear them at night."

"And I think it'll attract attention."

"In case you haven't noticed, I attract attention anyway." She giggled.

"I still think I should go with you."

She kissed him. "No. It's too dangerous."

Simone took a bus to the apartment building where the murder had taken place. She stood outside and carefully examined the place. There was no doorman, but there was a security camera. Simone walked past the front door, dematerialized, then appeared inside, beyond the range of the camera. She checked the stairwell and found no cameras. She went upstairs to the crime scene. She stood outside the door. Hearing nothing, she dematerialized again and was inside. She looked around. It appeared to her that everything had been cleaned up. She did, however, sense that a vampire had been here, and killed here.

Deciding that there was nothing to be found, she left the way she had come.

She stood across the street for a few minutes thinking. However, she couldn't think of what to do next. She shrugged and took the bus back home.

"Honey, I'm home." She called out entering the brownstone.

Flynn stuck his head out of the kitchen. "I ordered us a pizza. I can heat it up. Do you want some?"

She felt the urge to eat, but ignored it. _I'm a vampire and not a human. I drink blood and I don't eat pizza._ "No, I'll just have some blood." She opened a small refrigerator and removed a packet of blood. Then she decided to have a second. She had drunk all of her blood by the time Flynn had the pizza warmed up. She told him about what she had found, which was basically nothing she didn't know already.

"You can tell if a vampire has been around?"

"Yes, and I can tell that he killed there."

"He?"

Simone smiled. "Yes. He. The killer was a male vampire."

"So, we've eliminated half of the potential suspects in New York City? Unless our killer commutes into the city."

Simone stuck her tongue out at Flynn. Without quite realizing it she picked up a slice of pizza and nibbled on it.

"Is there anything else you could tell about this vampire?"

Simone frowned. "Such as?"

"His victim was a young woman, and quite attractive. A lawyer, so with above average intelligence. Probably made good money for someone her age." He could tell from Simone's expression that she wasn't understanding what he was getting at. He decided to ask directly "So, how do you vampires choose your prey, your meals? What do you look for?" He could tell at once he had said the wrong thing.

"I have killed before when my life was in danger, or someone else's was. I have never, ever killed to feed. And I never will." Simone looked like she was going to cry.

"Simone, I'm so sorry. That just came out all wrong. I know you. I love you. You are a good person."

"For a vampire, you mean." She said coldly.

He reached for her hand. She let him take it, but wouldn't let him pull her in for a hug. He moved to her. "Simone Renoir, I love you. You are a vampire and I love you. I know what kind of a person you are. I know you don't feed on people. I'm sorry. But, this is a new experience for me and sometimes I'm going to screw up. But that doesn't mean I don't love you."

She relaxed against his chest. "When I drink the blood I buy, I can't tell if it comes from a beautiful young girl, or an old man. I can't tell age, sex, race, or anything else. It's just blood to me."

Flynn nodded. "Would a killer vampire have….preferred hunting grounds?"

She shrugged. "Sort of. You find a grocery store you like and you go there because it's convenient and it has what you like. Maybe if you're in another part of town and need something, you go to a different store. Or maybe you go to a mini-mart because it's close and it's late and your regular store is closed. So, no. A vampire would not have, say something analogous to a favorite fishing hole and always feed there. He wouldn't feed too close to his home for fear of being recognized, but he'd be happy feeding anywhere he could get to easily."

"There's nothing about the victim that might tell us about the killer?"

Simone stopped. "It might. If the victim had seen something, perhaps not even related to the killer being a vampire."

"According to the paper, Carolyn Welles was an attorney. She was working on a merger between two large companies. She could have run across something during her work. Someone with their hand in the cookie jar? But that someone is a vampire and kills her to cover his crimes. We could try to find out what she was working on."

Simone smiled at him. "Just ask a bunch of lawyers if we could borrow the paperwork for a multi-billion dollar merger for a bit?"

"You could get in the law offices like you did Welles' apartment."

"And do what? Her work has doubtlessly been handed off to other lawyers, and even if I found something, I wouldn't recognize it. I'm a singer, not an _avocate_."

"I wonder what the police might know."

She giggled. "Same problem. "Allo, I'm Simone the vampire, and could I please borrow your files? Merci." She giggled again.

"So what do we do?"

Simone's face became serious. "We have to wait for the next murder and hope we can find something that will lead us to the killer."

"That sucks." Flynn said disgustedly.

She kissed him. 'I know it does, and if I could do anything I would." She thought for a moment. "Many vampires kill. They think that their strength and their long life make them better than humans, but we're not. I was human once…"

"And you still are." Flynn cut in. "You're more human than a lot of people I know."

"Thank you. But, not all of us are evil. I have known a few, like me, who won't feed on humans, but not many."

"How many vampires are there, all together?"

She shrugged. "Not many. A few hundred perhaps. They enjoy the feeling that they are a superior breed apart from the rest."

"Is that why they haven't made everyone vampires?"

"One of the reasons. If everyone was a vampire, they'd have to feed on each other. And if there were many of them, the vampire killings would attract attention and eventually everyone would figure out that here were really vampires. We may have skills that other humans don't, but there are billions of you and only a few of us."

Flynn shook his head. "There are billions of _us,_ and only a few of _them_."

"No. I'm afraid if word got out that vampires were real, I'd be killed like all the rest." She smiled sadly. "After centuries of living only to kill the vampire who made me one of them, I now have something to live for, you. And a killer vampire could destroy everything."

"I'll never let anything happen to you, Simone. Never."

"Even if the worst happens, Flynn, knowing you, loving you has been the best thing in my long life. You are the only one I've ever met who accepted me for what I am. I never told one man that I loved what I was, and the other left me when he found out. You're unique."

"Excuse me, could I bother you for a second?"

Flynn looked beyond Simone to see Judson standing there. "How did you get into our home?"

Judson looked around. "Oh, here? That's not important. What is important is that there's been another vampire killing."

"Where?" Simone asked at once.

"A loft in Tribeca. I can give you…." Judson stopped. Simone was gone already.

"Give me the address. I'll go after her."


	4. Chapter 4

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Four

By UCSBdad

Disclaimer: In addition to not owning Castle, I own no vampires, either. Rating: M, is places. Time: After season eight, before children.

"Captain Castle?" The tall uniform stuck his head in through her office door.

"Yes, LT?"

"We have another of the so-called vampire killings." The personnel of the 12th Precinct had learned not to refer to the deaths as "vampire killings" around Captain Castle.

"Where?"

"A loft in Tribeca."

Kate felt her stomach knot up. "Where in Tribeca."

"About six blocks from your home." He handed her a slip of paper. "Here's the address and what we have so far."

Kate nodded and called Rick. "Lover, we have another vampire copy cat killing. Ryan and Espo have been working day and night closing the Webber case, so I sent them home. Karpowski has a triple homicide right now and all I have left is Detective Hastings and her partner and they're awfully inexperienced. I thought I should…."

"Give me the address. I'll meet you there."

Kate smiled. "I love you."

The loft was far smaller and far less luxurious than Rick and Kate's. From the half finished paintings throughout the loft, it was clear that the victim had been an artist.

Lanie was just finishing up when Kate and Rick arrived. She went to Detective Hastings and her partner, Detective Alicia Windsor. Rick and Kate joined the three.

"The vic has two small puncture wounds on the left side of the neck, the same as the last victim. Cause of death is exsanguination. She was killed here and whoever did it took her blood with him."

"Him?" Hastings asked.

"Or her." Lanie added.

"Have we IDed the vic?" Kate asked Hastings.

She took out a notebook. "A neighbor, Mr. Redl," Hastings pointed to a man who looked to be in his seventies still taking to a uniform, "he thought he heard a scream and came to look. He had to find his glasses and put on his robe, so it took him perhaps three to five minutes to find her. Door was unlocked. He didn't see anyone else. She's Joan Leuthen, age 20, an art student at Hudson. Has lived here for eighteen months or so. Quiet, didn't go out much, a workaholic, at least according to Mr. Redl."

"Detectives?" Said a uniform from the doorway to the loft. "We may have something. We knocked on the door to the loft across the way. No answer, but I thought I heard something move inside."

The officers stacked up outside the door of the other loft. One of them knocked loudly. "NYPD! Open up or we'll open the door for you."

There was some noise from inside and then a crash. "He's making a run for it." Kate yelled.

The officer looked at the heavy steel door and tried to doorknob. The door swung open. The room was brightly lit. The first thing everyone saw was a form sprawled on the floor face down. "Check and see if he's still alive." Hastings shouted. The rest of the officers spread out through the loft. Castle could hear them yelling "Clear!" as they went through each room.

"Is he alive?" Hastings asked.

"Oh, yeah. He's alive all right. Inhale deeply."

On cue, everyone inhaled. "Pot!" Hastings, Windsor, and Kate said at once.

"I wouldn't know." Castle said as innocently as he could manage.

"I don't think he'll be awake and functional for a while. How much pot does he have?"

"He's down to seeds and stems, Captain. I doubt if he has enough for a single joint here. Not enough to bother busting him on." One of the officers commented.

Hastings nodded. "Take him to the nearest ER. When he wakes up, we'll talk to him."

Kate looked around. "Hastings, have CSU do a sweep. We'll try to find a next of kin and check with Hudson tomorrow to see what they can tell us. Rick and I are going home."

Joan Leuthen's parents lived in an upscale condo overlooking Central Park. It was larger than the Castle's loft and Rick felt the interior decorator had probably been told to decorate it so everyone would know the Leuthen's were wealthy. Mr. Leuthen was tall, portly and had a full head of salt and pepper hair. He looked grim. Mrs. Leuthen was chubby and had obviously been crying. Both were lawyers at Rysak, Fellowes and Darwin, a firm that handled people in the entertainment industry. Rick thought that Martha may have used their services once.

"We're very sorry for your loss." Kate said softly.

Mr. Leuthen just barely nodded and Mrs. Leuthen began to cry again. "Thank you." She muttered.

"Your daughter was an art student at Hudson?"

Mr. Leuthen nodded. "I didn't want her to do that. Her older brother and sister are both lawyers. We wanted her to go to law school. Maybe I pushed her too hard. Or not hard enough. But, she wanted to be a painter. I should have stopped her."

"Mr. Leuthen, don't blame yourself. You are _not_ to blame. The person who did this is to blame, and no one else." Kate said firmly. Mr. Leuthen nodded, but Kate doubted he'd manage not to blame himself somehow. "Do you know if she had any boyfriends? Anyone at Hudson she was close to? Anyone she felt threatened by?"

"No. It wouldn't surprise me if one of them did it. I know them. I know their kind."

"What do you mean?" Kate asked, somewhat at a loss as to what he meant.

"I know I don't look it, but thirty five years or so ago, I followed the Grateful Dead around for a year, selling tee shirts, bongs, all sorts of stuff. It was a big joke to me then, but now…."

"Do you know of anyone now that might have wanted to hurt your daughter?"

Mrs. Leuthen spoke. "No. She was such a sweet girl. Who would want to kill her?"

"I notice you're both lawyers." Rick said. "There was a similar killing not long ago. The victim was a lawyer. Do you have any connection with the firm of Grace and Vollmer?"

The man thought for several minutes. "I've heard the name, of course. But we're entertainment lawyers at Rysak, Fellowes and Darwin, and they're corporate lawyers. Their clients are mostly financial companies. Very big companies. I'm sure I've never dealt with them professionally. I may have met a lawyer from there socially at some point, but I don't remember doing so."

Kate asked a few more questions, but it was clear that the Leuthens had no information to give them.

"Hudson U.?" Rick asked as the left the Leuthens.

"That's our best bet."

Professor Monderley was pleasant, balding, bearded and wore a three piece suit. He didn't look to Rick anything like an art professor, or the head of the art department. "Ms. Leuthen was such a lovely girl. This is such a shame. Such a loss."

"Ms. Leuthen was a talented artist then?" Kate asked.

The professor looked away suddenly. "Talented?"

"Yes. I'd assume she was talented. You said what a loss."

"She worked very, very hard, you'll understand."

"But she wasn't talented." Rick finally asked.

"She was not untalented." The Professor said vaguely.

"I'm conducting a murder investigation. I'd appreciate it if you'd be a bit clearer." Kate said.

Monderley looked pained. "She wasn't very talented. She'd never have made it as a painter in my opinion. Although some horribly talentless people have made fortunes. Joan wanted to be an artist because she didn't want to be a lawyer. I suppose she thought art was as far from the law as you could get. She could have ended up as, say, a commercial artist. One of my former students paints album covers for rock bands. Horrible, gaudy, cheap things, but the musicians seem to love them."

"Did her lack of talent cause any problems with the other students? Did they object to having someone with little talent taking up space in the art school?"

Monderley looked pained again. "They had a rather mercenary attitude about her, I'd say."

"Mercenary? In what way?"

"They felt that an artist with little talent wouldn't be a threat to their careers. If she'd been a magnificent painter, they would have hated her."

"Can you tell us who night have known her?"

"You should see Mr. Rodderick. He's her advisor. He's working on his doctorate."

"She was a Park Avenue hippy." Rodderick said.

"Pardon?" Kate asked.

"We get a few every year. They come in wanting to reject all of Daddy's materialistic, conservative ways and they decide to paint, or sculpt, write the great revolutionary novel or maybe produce some indie flic about Something Important. Then they get out in the real world and find out how hard it is to get by without Daddy's money and they give up. Leuthen was one of those."

"Can you think of anyone who hated her enough to kill her? Any disputes with anyone? Any problems at all?"

"Her problem was she had no talent. But, no. Painting is a pretty solitary art form. Not like plays or music. People pretty much ignored her and she ignored them."

Kate frowned. _This is isn't getting any easier._ "Can I have her schedule so I can check with her classmates?"

Of all her classmates, Sandra Miesner was the only one who knew Joan at all.

"Yeah, my dad is this dentist who does dental work for people who have more money than brains. You have no idea how many people get their teeth whitened professionally. That's about half of Dad's business. We kind of bonded over that. But…." Sandra stopped.

"But?" Kate asked.

"She was kind of a hack. Let me show you." She gathered a few paintings from the back of the classroom they were in. "This was a project. Do a still life of fruit in water colors. This is Joan's." It was a nice enough watercolor of a bowl of fruit. "This is mine." It was the same fruit bowl but the colors were far brighter than anything in real fruit. Metallic almost. "And this is Jeff Rhymer's." Jeff's fruit was rotting and ugly.

"Do you know anyone that might have wanted to hurt her? Or anyone she was close to?"

Sandra smiled. "She did use Ben Carlton as a nude model. She painted three or four portraits of him."

"Do you think there was anything going on between them?" Castle asked.

Sandra laughed. "Ben is an absolute gorgeous hunk. Tall, muscular, gorgeous smile, I don't care if it is fake, curly golden hair and this cute laugh. But he's the gayest guy in New York."

"We'll still need to check him out." Kate said and blushed as Sandra giggled.

'He's a bartender at the Ponderosa, a leather bar in the Village."

Ben Carlton was everything that Rick and Kate had been told. He also had solid alibis. He had been working the nights of both murders, a fact confirmed by both his manager and a dozen or more rowdy bar patrons.

"Back to the precinct?" Castle asked.

Kate just nodded.

Once back, Ryan called them into the video room. "I was going over the videos from surveillance cameras in the area and traffic cams to see if anyone interesting showed up. I got nothing from before the murder, but I caught something interesting outside while we were inside." Ryan ran the video.

The video showed a young woman walking back and forth across the street from the second crime scene. "Now look at this." Ryan said. He got a close up. The woman was wearing a pair of large sunglasses, a baseball cap and a scarf around her neck that rode up to cover the lower part of her face.

"That late at night she's wearing sunglasses? She's trying to avoid the cameras. She's afraid of facial recognition." Kate said.

"Doesn't mean she's involved in our murder." Castle warned. "She could be a hooker, or maybe she's casing someplace. Or maybe it's just the latest fashion trend."

"Do we have any other shots of her?"

Ryan shook his head. "There's a traffic cam a block away, but it shows us nothing more. She stayed across the street for maybe fifteen minutes, then walked away. She went away from the traffic cam and we lost her."

Kate frowned. "Check footage from both crime scenes going back a couple of days and check after the murder on the first killing. Maybe she's one of those ghouls who check police radios for deaths and then break in and rob the place." Kate checked her watch. "Damn! I have a meeting at One PP." She put her hand on Rick's arm. "See you at home, lover?"

"Sure, but I'll stay here with Ryan and see if we get anything. I'll text you if we find anything."

"And I'll call you when I get out of the meeting." She kissed him quickly, then grabbed her things and headed for the elevator.

"Chinese takeout tonight, remember?"

She just waved to him.

Watching traffic cam and security footage was more boring than doing paperwork as far as Castle was concerned. The only thing that made it bearable was that he was able to make up little stories about the people he was watching. _Hannah Stark, crack secret agent, is skillfully pretending to be a lost tourist in New York City. She approaches a friendly local. He gives her the prearranged coded message. "Get lost, bitch. I'm busy." Skillfully concealing her elation, Hannah walks off, now knowing where Hamid al Muhammed's secret lair is. "Now I have you, murderous terrorist scum." Hannah thinks as…_

"Hey, we may have something." Ryan interrupted.

"What?" Castle switched gears in his mind.

"Look at her. The light pantsuit. Again, a baseball cap, shades and a scarf. This can't be a coincidence, Castle. That's the same woman, I'm sure of it."

"Can we track her?"

Ryan smiled. "I can sure as hell try."

Working through all the various surveillance cameras he could find, Ryan tracked the woman to a subway station and followed her route. Then they got lucky. Someone running to get his train barreled into the woman and knocked her hat and sunglasses off. They got some twelve seconds of her face before she put the hat and glasses back on.

Ryan got an extreme close-up. "We can send this for facial recognition and….Oh, shit!"

"Ryan, what is it?"

Kate was concerned when she got back to the precinct and saw her husband and Ryan in her office. "What was so important that you couldn't tell me about it on the phone?"

"We got a shot of that woman without her hat or sunglasses. "Ryan explained. "We sent it through facial recognition. We got a one hundred percent match."

"So, who is it?"

Castle handed her the photo. "It's you. Captain Kate Castle, 12th Precinct, NYPD."

Kate stared at the photo for a long time. "Her hair is shorter than mine. And it's darker." She looked again." And curlier than when I wore my hair this short."

"But it's your face." Castle said, worriedly.

"But it isn't me!"

"I know. We've checked the date/time stamps on all the surveillance footage. They haven't been altered and you were with me or someone else the whole time. Why, the half the precinct saw you at the second crime scene."

"3XK." Kate said, her voice conveying the shock she felt.

"Kate, he's dead and Kelly Neiman is dead, too."

"Are they? He stole all of his records, except those held by the prison. And who was his doctor at the prison? Neiman! She made copies of Lanie and Espo to fool us. They could have made copies of themselves, too. And copies of us."

Rick shook his head. "No, Tyson wanted to kill me himself. He'd have never let someone else do that. And Neiman had you kidnapped so she could kill you. They're dead."

"Are you willing to bet your life on that? Are you willing to bet my life?" Seeing the worried look on Rick's face, she went on. "Look, maybe it isn't Tyson and Neiman. Maybe they are dead. But maybe they made copies of me and others. Think. Captain Castle stalking the scene of a murder? Maybe who ever this woman is wants to set me, or us, up for these murders." She turned to Ryan. "Get more help. Check every security cam you can find. We need to catch this woman."


	5. Chapter 5

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Five

By UCSbdad

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Castle as a matter of fact. Nice of you to ask, though. Rating: M, in parts. Time: After Season eight, before children.

Simone ran into Flynn as she exited the subway and he was just going in.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worried.

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "Of course I am. But it's so sweet of you to worry."

Flynn took her arm and began walking back towards The Library. "Simone, you don't have to do this. If you attract the cops' attention and they see that you're a double for that police captain, they'll bring you in for interrogation. What if they figure out what you are?"

"What? You mean they might figure out that I'm the lover of the most wonderful man in the world? I don't care if they know that." She kissed him again, getting smiles from the people on the street around them.

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Please, relax. As long as I'm well fed, there isn't any group of policemen capable to making me go anywhere I don't want to go and you know that their guns won't hurt me."

"And those are exactly the things that could get you in trouble."

"I have to do this. I know what vampires are like. They're not inherently evil, but they find it easier to…What's the term? Go to the dark side?"

"You're quoting Star Wars?"

"Even though I'm a vampire, Flynn, I am a good person. The police can't trap this vampire and I can. I'm doing what any good, law abiding person would do."

By now they had reached The Library and were headed for their work area. "Perhaps we can spend some time in bed now?"

Flynn wanted to argue with her about her chasing the killer vampire, but, he found that for some reason, he had less and less interest in that topic. "You're unbelievable."

Simone just laughed, picked him up and gently put him down on the bed. Then she joined him, starting to take off her clothes. Flynn didn't think about the killer vampire for a long time after that.

However, while Flynn may have forgotten about Simone and her chase after the killer vampire, other people had not.

"Captain Castle?" Ryan said, putting his head into her office.

Kate looked up from the records of Jerry Tyson and Dr. Kelly Neiman that they had. "Find something?"

"We got her again. Not much, just a surveillance camera from a jewelry store. But she's with a guy and it's her. She's got her face covered with the hat, glasses and scarf, but she's the same one."

Kate got up and went to the video room. Tory Ellison had the video ready to run. "It's not very good." She apologized. "I've cleaned it up as much as I could, but they came around the corner and walked away from the jewelry store, so we only got their backs."

Kate watched the video, then had it run in slow motion, then asked for a close up. "Dammit. We can't see any part of their faces. We can't tell anything."

"We can tell some things." Tory replied. "She's very friendly with him. Now, she could be a hooker with her john, but the vibe I'm getting is more boyfriend."

Kate frowned. "Could he be a duplicate of Rick?"

Both Tory and Ryan shrugged. "They're too far away to tell. Maybe if we had a better view…"

"Keep looking. Get more people if you have to."

"It's not people we need so much as more equipment. We only have the one video room." Tory said.

"I'll see what I can do."

As she turned to leave, Rick walked in. "You may get help sooner than you think. WHNY just broke the story of the "vampire killer" loose in the streets of New York. We're getting phone calls from the press and public already. We'll hear from One PP next, I'm sure."

When the phones started lighting up, Kate looked at Rick. "I think we should go see Mr. Grace again and see if he or his people had any connection with the Leuthens." She sighed. "And to get away from the phones."

Grace's office was just as nice as the last time they were there and Mr. Grace was just as cooperative. "I do know the name Leuthen, and I've certainly heard of Rysak, Fellowes and Darwin." Grace stopped and looked pensive. "I don't recall ever dealing with them, or anyone at their firm, but I don't need to rely on my memory." He hit the intercom button. "Gwen, can you check the database for me or anyone in the firm dealing with Rysak, Fellowes and Darwin, or…" Grace looked over at Kate. "What are the Leuthen's first names again?"

"George and Rachel." Kate provided.

The three sat for several uncomfortable minutes, talking about nothing until Gwen, a frazzled young lady with her hair in a sloppy pony tail and with a coffee stain on her blouse came in. "Sir, you have talked to Mr. Leuthen. It was eight years ago in reference to Cebulski v. Connors et al."

Grace nodded. "I forgot about that one. Mark Cebulski was the frontman for Magic Lantern. When the group split up, there was a problem with who owned which of the groups' songs. Rysak, Fellowes and Darwin were handling that, but then there were allegations that band members and their girlfriends were spending the band's money on themselves. We have some very good forensic accountants, so we took part of the case. Gwen, how long did I talk to Leuthen?"

Gwen checked a laptop she was holding. "You're down for fifteen minutes, sir."

Grace looked a bit embarrassed. "We bill everything in increments of fifteen minutes. I don't really know how long I talked, but it was fifteen minutes or less."

Kate nodded. "A fifteen minute conversation, eight years ago? People don't usually remember that."

Grace turned back to Gwen." Anything else?"

"Five years ago, sir. The music file sharing case. We were involved with Rysak, Fellowes and Darwin and a lot of other firms. I can tell you that there were conference calls between our firm and theirs, but I can't tell if you ever talked to either of the Leuthens."

"Do you mind if we talk to your people and see if any of them had contact with either the Leuthens or their firm?"

"Of course not, Captain. I want to see Carolyn's killer caught as badly as you do."

They spent several hours talking to Grace's people but found nothing that could tie anyone in his firm to the Leuthen's, their law firm or their daughter.

"And it might be like that murder we had years back. We found a connection between two vics, but it had nothing to do with the murder." Castle said as they left Grace and Vollmer.

"Do you really have to make me feel better like that?" Kate asked tiredly. Once outside she checked her phone. "I have voicemails. I'll bet it's One PP wanting to know what I'm doing about rampant vampire murders in my precinct."

Kate listened and as she suspected most of the calls were from One PP. But the last call was from Ryan. "We got another one. I'll text you the address and meet you there if you can."

"That one was just ten minutes ago. Let's go Castle."

Lanie was just finishing up and Ryan and Esposito were comparing notes. They went stepped out into the hallway so as to not disturb the CSU team that was now working the crime scene.

Lanie spoke first. "COD appears to be the same. Twin puncture wounds to the neck, and he bled out. There is a bruise on his arm which may indicate he put up a fight, but I'll have to check further. He hasn't been moved and there's no blood anywhere in the apartment."

Espo followed up. "Vic's wallet and driver's license shows him to be Dr. James Shaw, doing medical research at Columbia. He's a hematologist. According to the neighbors he has a girlfriend who's usually here, but she's a doctor as well and is off at some medical get together in Phoenix. We found her phone number on Shaw's phone. Someone will have to call her." Espo looked right at Kate.

"I'll do it, of course."

"This one makes sense anyway." Castle remarked.

"How?" Kate asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Our vic is a hematologist. He's a specialist in blood diseases. Our vampire would…."

"Our what?" Kate cut in sharply.

Castle sighed. "Our very human killer who only thinks he's a vampire would be attracted to someone who deals with blood. Dr. Shaw probably has access to very tasty, or possibly nutritious blood. Or so our killer night think."

Kate looked at her two senior detectives. "That just might be a motive. Check with his colleagues at Columbia and see if anyone has been around Dr. Shaw who doesn't fit in."

"Pale people with capes." Castle added, drawing a glare from Kate.

Flynn looked up from his work to see that Simone had changed. She wore a dove grey pants suit with a fluffy blouse and a light blue narrow tie. She also had a long blonde wig that wrapped around her face. Added to the sun glasses, facial recognition wouldn't catch her.

"I'm off." She announced. "I picked up something on the police scanner. There's been another vampire murder. I have to go."

"Where did you get a police scanner?"

"Mr. Judson said The Library had some. The Library loaned one to me."

"The Library has…"Flynn stopped. "I guess they have everything. Wait up, I'll go with you."

Simone shook her head. "No, Flynn. I can get away from the police and you can't. It's too dangerous for you."

"I laugh at danger."

She shrugged. "I have noticed your odd sense of humor." She kissed him. "Seriously, I need to go by myself. I can do this better without you." She kissed him again. "But there are things I absolutely have to do with you."

Flynn sighed as she watched Simone walk away and turned back to his studies.

Captain Castle was tired and had the beginnings of a headache. She walked to the front of the building and looked out into the night. A slim blonde woman was walking down the street, apparently paying close attention to the building the crime scene was in. That wasn't that unusual. Police cars, the morgue car and an ambulance were parked in front and police and some neighbors were standing around out front. Kate noticed something. The woman was wearing sunglasses.

She turned to Castle, but he was with Ryan and Esposito at the far end of the hall, talking to a neighbor of the vic.

 _It's silly._ She thought. _It's just some woman out for a walk today who forgot to take her sunglasses off._ But the slower the woman walked and the more she stared at the building, the more determined Kate was to find out who she was.

Kate walked down the steps and into the street, hurrying after the woman who was now walking faster. "Excuse me. NYPD. Can I talk to you?" She called.

The blonde suddenly turned into a shabby office building. Kate went through the doorway no more than ten seconds after the blonde, quickly taking in a security guard peacefully snoozing in an alcove. She saw a flash of grey going up the stairs and ran after her.

The woman kept moving, but didn't seem to be trying to escape. In fact, she seemed to be leading Kate on. _Ambush?_ Kate drew her Glock and kept on. She found the woman standing at the end of a hallway. The lights at that end were out and it was too dark to see the woman's face, but Kate was sure she would look exactly like her.

"NYPD. Put your hands behind your head and walk very slowly this way." The woman smiled. Then there was a rush of air, like a breeze and the woman was gone. Kate blinked, sure she couldn't have seen what she had just seen. At the same time, a hand closed around her wrist and wrenched her Glock from her hand. She tried to bend down to reach her back up, but the woman was too strong. She reached for Kate's gun and pulled it from her holster around her ankle. Kate slammed her elbow back into the woman's ribs, but it was like hitting a brick wall. The woman didn't even make a sound.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Captain Castle. I want to help you. You need to concentrate on what you've seen. You must…."

"Kate! Where are you?" It was Castle and he sounded like he was in the stairwell.

"Castle." Kate yelled.

There was the sound of wind, and Kate was free. She saw her weapons on the floor behind her. Looking around, she couldn't see the woman anywhere. _Where the hell did she go?_

Kate shook her head to clear it. _My weapons_. She quickly picked them up and returned them to her holsters. Just then Rick came around the corner. "Where did you go? You just left and I got worried."

"I saw a woman walk past and she looked like the woman who looked like me, except blonde. I followed her into the building here, but I lost her. Did you see her?" _There is no way I'm telling Rick what happened. He'll think I'm crazy_.

They took a quick look around the building and left, without ever disturbing the sleeping security guard.

That night, Kate lay awake, staring at the ceiling and running the events with the woman through her mind. _She spoke with an accent. French, I think. French Canadian or French from France? And she's strong. Too damned strong. Could it have been a man? No, she had curves and those were her boobs pushing into my back when she held me. So, a weightlifter? Martial artist? Military? And what the hell did she mean by my having to concentrate on what I've seen? It's not like I'm not in the habit of concentrating on what I see. Dammit! This makes no sense._

The next morning at breakfast, Kate decided she had to tell Rick what had really happened.

"She was standing how far away?" He asked after she had done so.

"Fifty or sixty feet."

"A hallucinogen?" Castle suggested.

"She got me high? Really?"

"Okay, she sprays a hallucinogen into the air behind her and walks away. You come right after her and walk right into it. You're stunned for a moment. You don't see her walk to you and grab your gun. And she's not that much stronger than you, you're just weak from the hallucinogen you inhaled. She hears me coming, drops your weapons, and runs back down the hall and leaves. By the time I get to you, you're better. That explains it."

"Okay, I'll check and see if there are any drugs out there that can actually do that. But what about what she said. That she's wanted to help me?"

"A private investigator?" Castle guessed. "Or a government secret agent. She can't tell you who she is because she's part of a top secret, plausible deniability unit. The government is hunting vampires! Or better, yet, she's from a top secret government vampire squad going after a rogue vampire. She has to terminate him with extreme prejudice."

"You do know that there are no such things as vampires, right?" Kate asked softly.

"There used to be no such things as vampires, but with all the things they can do these days, who's to say the government hasn't developed vampires?"

"Developing vampires. What would that come under? The Surgeon General? Maybe the Department of Agriculture? They do a lot of things with DNA I hear."

"Laugh all you want. But someone out there is killing like he thinks he's a vampire. Maybe we should look into the vampire subculture."

Kate sighed. "Okay. I'll have Ryan and Esposito check out the local vampire subculture and see if they've run into anyone who really thinks he's a vampire."

"Sure, remember Morgan Lockerbie, Morlock? He thought he was a vampire."

"He was as crazy as they came and he didn't kill anyone."

"Still…."

When Rick and Kate got to the precinct, they had some news. "We found your blonde look alike. Sort of." Ryan told them.

"Sort of?" Kate asked. "How sort of?"

"We picked her up on a traffic cam not a block from where you saw her. We followed her to the subway, but she had paid cash for her Metro card. We can't track it. But we know where she got off and we followed her on traffic cams and then…We lost her."

"Where did we lose her?"

"By The Library."

" _The_ Library?" Castle asked. "I always thought it was pretentious to call their library _The_ Library, as if it was the only one."

"Even so, she was headed for The Library when we lost her."

"Okay, Castle and I will go to The Library. You two get to check out the local vampire subculture and see if any vampire wannabes are out there."


	6. Chapter 6

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Six

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Guess what two things I don't own. Rating: M, in places. Time: After season eight, before children.

Simone was tired when she got back to The Library. She actually felt like taking a nap, but decided she'd better talk to Flynn first.

"Hello, Flynn." She said, putting her arms around him from behind and kissing his cheek. He swiveled around so he could kiss her properly.

"What happened?"

"I walked by the murder scene. I'm positive it was a vampire. I got the…vibes…No, that's not the right word for it." Simone frowned. "There really is no word for it, it's just a vampire thing."

"Why couldn't you tell old Doctor Dracula was a vampire?" Flynn wondered.

Simone shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't been around many vampires in my life. Most vampires hang out together. I always hated that I became one. Maybe if I knew more vampires, I'd understand them…us better. I don't know." Simone smiled. "Flynn, can The Library use its resources to find out more about the victim? Or how the police are doing?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I'll ask Judson for you. Anything else happen?"

Simone looked guilty.

"Simone, what happened? What did you do?"

"Nothing bad. I didn't become a bad girl vampire." Simone showed her fangs and then laughed. "That police captain, the one who looks like me, saw me and came after me. I led her into an office building and when she cornered me, I jumped behind her and took her weapons. I told her that she should concentrate on what she'd seen. In other words someone doing things no human could do, like move from one place to the next without being anywhere in between like I had just done. But her husband was coming and I didn't get a chance to explain what I meant. I hope she understood."

He shook his head. "Anything else? And I hope not, because what you did was too much. You have to be careful. I can't lose you, Simone."

Simone laughed happily. "You won't." _I may lose you one day_ , she thought, _but you won't lose me_.

"I'm serious. She's heard your voice. She knows you have an accent…"

" _Moi_?" Simone teased. "I do not have an accent. It's everyone else who has an accent."

She slid onto his lap. "Would you like to go to bed with me? When I got here, I was tired, like I needed a nap, even though it's nighttime. But now, I need you."

"We need to talk about…" Simone hopped off his lap and picked him up and carried him to the bed. By then, Flynn was ready to see who could undress who the quickest. As always, Simone won.

Later, Flynn gently circled her nipple with his finger. "We do need to talk. Simone, this scares the hell out of me. I love you, you know. And I have an idea."

"Um, I have an idea, too." Her hand slid down his chest and kept going.

"Not that kind of idea."

However, Simone's idea won. And by then, she was tired and dropped off to sleep just before dawn.

Kate introduced herself and Rick to the receptionist at The Library. "I wonder if we could see someone about your security cameras?"

"Perhaps I can help?" Judson was right behind them. "I'm Mr. Judson, the librarian. The head librarian, if you will.

Both Kate and Rick looked Mr. Judson over. He appeared to be elderly, balding, short and somewhat skinny, almost frail. However, he was smiling nervously.

"We're trying to track a young lady who may have come into The Library last night. We're you open?"

Judson smiled happily. "Oh, yes. We're always open quite late. In addition to our normal walk in trade, we have all manner of special exhibits and programs. Sometimes we don't even close at all." He looked rather perplexed for a second. "Security cameras, you say." He turned to the receptionist. "Could you please call Anna. She'd know about the cameras and such."

Actually, Judson was quite knowledgeable about the cameras and all of The Library's quite extensive security systems. He was especially aware that the cameras' had been programmed not to pick up Flynn, Simone and some other members of the staff.

"Yes, Mr. Judson, do you need some help with the security system?" Anna was a lovely dark skinned, willowy woman from a small island in the Caribbean.

"Can we show the police officers here the security camera's feed?" Judson asked, as if he were unsure.

"Of course, sir. We can review them right on the receptionist's monitor. If you'll follow me?" She led all three behind the kiosk and began typing commands on the keyboard. "Do you wish inside or external cameras?"

"External, please. Our subject was coming from the subway." Kate replied.

"Oh, dear. There's a tree blocking that camera. I've asked that it be trimmed back…."

"It's the budget, Anna." Judson spoke up. "I'd love to have the money for everything we need, but I had a choice to make between the papyrus scrolls from Roman Egypt, or tree maintenance and I…"

Anna smiled. "Yes, Mr. Judson, I perfectly understand. Oh, that's the feed from that camera. As you can see, nothing but leaves. Shall we try the entrance cameras?"

The entrance cameras showed nothing, then they showed a huge group of high school students leaving The Library. Even running it in super slow motion, they couldn't see the woman they were looking for. Anna did more typing. "We'll do an internal camera." That showed nothing but the students leaving. The woman hadn't come into The Library.

"She might have gone to the next subway stop." Anna said. "Most of the students went that way. What did she look like?"

Kate described the woman's clothes.

"And her face?"

Kate blushed slightly. "She looks much like me. There was a plastic surgeon who was a serial killer. She had something of…an obsession with me. The woman might be have been made as a copy of me. The doctor copied people before."

Anna ran the security video as slowly as she could, but never caught anyone who dressed like the woman or who looked like Kate. Anna knew she wouldn't, of course. Simone had walked into The Library and was ignored by the cameras.

Kate swore under her breath. "Thank you so much. We'll have to check the subway cameras."

Judson went off to find Flynn and Simone to tell them that the police were looking for Simone and knew what her face looked like. However, the couple were rather busy when he got there, so he decided to wait until the next day.

When Simone awoke, she was alone, which she found she hated. She got up, used The Library's facilities to shower and do her make up, got dressed and went looking for Flynn.

"There you are." She said, finding him at work. "I missed you when I woke up." She gave him a good morning kiss and sat on his lap. "What are you doing?"

"Getting ready."

"Getting ready for?"

"Judson says he can't do anything more than the police scanner you already have. But, I had a brilliant idea."

Simone giggled. "I have a brilliant idea as well." Her hand slid under his shirt.

"A brilliant idea for finding out how much the police know. They're about to be visited by the brilliant Dr. Flynn Carsen, a world renowned expert on vampire delusions. According to the papers, the police think they have a serial killer who thinks he's a vampire, so who better to consult than a world renowned expert?"

"But you're not a world renowned expert." Simone cried. "You're my Flynn."

"I'm your Flynn and a genius, and I have multiple PhDs, and I know one lovely, gorgeous vampire. What could go wrong?"

"You could get attacked by a vampire and I could lose you, that's what could go wrong. Please, don't do this. Please stay here with me."

"And let a vampire go on a killing spree? That's wasn't what you wanted a minute ago. And now you know how I feel when you go out looking for the killer."

Simone rested her head on his shoulder. "I hate this idea. But I can't think of a better one." She suddenly lifted her head and looked him in the eye. "And you'll be with a woman who looks just like me. Suppose you fall in love with her?"

He pulled her close and whispered in her ear. "Captain Castle is a happily married woman and I'm deeply in love with you and no one else."

She shed a tear. "You'd better be, or you'll break my heart."

"I'll never break your heart, but I have to do this. We have to do this. We have to stop this guy."

"We? What do you want me to do?" She said, suddenly smiling.

He pointed at the books on the desk. "Keep reading the books we have on vampires. Not just the Judas Chalice and how it works, but anything you can find about vampires that could help us. Okay?"

"Can't I go with you?" Now she was frowning.

He slowly shook his head. "Captain Castle knows what you look like."

"I can change."

"Enough to fool a precinct full of cops who've known the Captain for years?"

"I hate this. I should be with you."

"You should be safe." Flynn ran his hand along her cheek. "Now, I have to get busy setting up my cover story."

Simone slid off of his lap. "Okay. I have something to do, too."

Simone came back in some two hours with something hidden behind her back, loosely wrapped in paper. "Give me your right shoe." She demanded, holding out her hand.

"I'd rather you undress me starting someplace else."

"This is serious, Flynn. Now give me your right shoe."

"Just the right shoe?" He asked as he toed the shoe off.

"Just that one."

"Are you getting kinkier, or is it…"

"It's serious." She took something and put it inside his shoe. "Here." She smiled as she handed the shoe back to him.

Looking inside, Flynn saw several small squares of paper had been glued to the inside of the back to his shoe. "And this is for?"

"It will make you walk with a very slight limp."

"Why?"

He could see the paper drop behind her and she held out a walking stick. A rather ornate one, carved from a dark hardwood and topped with a brass lion's head. "A new fashion accessory?"

She took the stick back, did something with the lion's head and a wooden blade shot out of the bottom of the stick. "It's aspen wood, just like the wood you used to kill Dracula. Except I've sharpened it as best I could. To protect yourself from vampires."

He examined the stick, learning how to shoot the wooden blade out and how to retract it. "How did you make this is such a short time?"

"The Library has so many useful things and people." She looked at him apprehensively. "Do you like it?"

"I love it. Just as I love you." In a second she was in his arms, kissing him and removing more than one shoe. She started to pick him up.

"No. Simone, just once, I'll take you to bed."

"Just once?" She teased.

"You know what I mean."

Flynn reported to the 12th Precinct the next morning, having been vouched for by numerous friends of The Library.

"He's here." Ryan said, knocking on Kate's office door. "The vampire expert."

"Exactly what we need." She muttered.

"Aren't you being a little hard on the man? He's an expert on people with a vampire fetish that become delusional and truly believe that they are real vampires." Castle was looking forward to meeting Dr. Carsen.

Ryan handed Beckett a folded up one dollar bill. "I knew you'd be happy he was here." Kate said to Rick.

"Don't I get something for being so predictable?"

She just smiled at him.

"Bring Dr. Carsen in."

Dr. Carsen was young for his accomplishments, Rick thought. _He looks to be about my age and he's an MD and has multiple PhDs._

Rick and Kate had sat in one a conversation that Lanie had had with a colleague, a Dr. Jane Mitchell, at the UCLA Medical Center where Dr. Carsen often worked.

"Flynn is there in New York? Well, better there than here."

"What's wrong with him?" Lanie had asked. "Is he a phony?"

"No. He's a certified genius, graduate of Stanford Medical School, multiple PhDs in more subjects than you can imagine and in the oddest collection of subjects you'd want. But the man is…eccentric, to say the least. I mean, studying people who think they're vampires? And he could do so much more important work, given his abilities. It's sad."

At the other end of the country, Dr. Mitchell had hung up, sorry that she'd to lie to Dr. Parish, but she knew The Library would have a good reason for asking her to.

But, in person, Castle felt that Dr. Carsen came across as a caring, if somewhat happy go lucky, man. _A lot like me._

"How did you get involved in the study of people who think they're vampires?" Kate asked.

Flynn shrugged. "I live and work in LA. We get odd people. People who believe in ghosts, who believe they can tell the future, people who think they can control others with their minds. As a psychiatrist, I found them all fascinating. And the vampire community just seemed to attract me."

"I hope you don't…."Kate stopped herself, realizing she may have gone too far.

"Sleep in a coffin and drink blood?" Flynn laughed. "No, but I know people who do." Actually, while Simone did drink blood she had never slept in a coffin. She found them far too confining. She liked a nice comfy bed, with Flynn next to her.

"What can you tell us about our would-be vampire, if anything?"

"Not a lot without looking at your records. I'd say that he, and the vast majority of delusional vampires I've dealt with are male, won't come anywhere near the vampire fetishists who pretend to be vampires. He sees them as posers and not worthy of his attention. He'll despise them."

"So much for looking in the obvious places." Castle said.

"If I can look over your case files now, perhaps I can be of more help."

Kate handed Dr. Carsen a stack of files and let him use an empty office. Flynn read through them rapidly, but thoroughly. After several hours, he came back and met with Rick and Kate.

"There have been no other such murders in the area in the past?" He asked.

"No. I've checked with One PP and with police forces in the tri-state area and with the FBI."

Flynn nodded. "This person was well prepared for the murder. He didn't just slash open a vein and drink the blood. He removed the blood with surgical precision. That suggest a certain intelligence, but it appears he hasn't done this before, and also that his delusion is strong. I would suggest that he has been drinking blood before he killed his first victim. In the past, such persons have bought blood on the black market, or have hired prostitutes who would allow him to drain a pint or so of blood from them. You might wish to contact blood banks and the like and see if there have been any suspicious purchases of blood. That is, from new and unknown "researchers" or hospitals and other medical facilities." Flynn had made sure that the blood that Simone drank was purchased from a reputable company that was connected to The Library. He had made sure they'd never tell anyone that Simone was a customer. "You might also wish to contact your Vice unit to talk to prostitutes who have had such encounters."

"Anything else?" Castle asked.

"I'd suggest that your killer is intelligent, well-educated and is reasonably well off. He probably is some sort of high achiever and he probably seem completely normal to his friends and co-workers. Perhaps even his family, if he has one, doesn't know of his delusion. Oh, and he is probably alone in his delusion. That is, he has no one that shares his delusion with him. He cannot see his own delusion, but he can see the delusional aspects of another person."

Flynn checked his watch. "I hope I've been of help today, but I'm rather jet lagged from my trip from LA. I'll see you tomorrow."

It was dark as Flynn walked out of the 12th Precinct. He hadn't even gotten a taxi when his phone rang. "Simone? What is it?"

"I found him. He killed a man in the East Village. I saw him, Flynn and tried to follow him, but he jumped away and I lost him. I'm sorry."

Flynn pushed down the fear he felt for Simone. "Honey, go back to The Library now. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"No, I should stay and try to pick up his trail. I can…."

He cut her off. "Please, Simone. Just go back to The Library. The police will be there soon, I'll bet and they know to look for a woman who looks like their Captain Castle. You may be able to escape the police, but not without revealing what you are."

"And what am I?" She asked coyly.

"The most beautiful woman in the world and the woman I love."

"How can I resist going back to The Library when you speak to me like that? I'll be waiting in bed, Flynn."

Flynn tried to tell her that they should talk first, but she had hung up.

He found her sprawled naked on the bed. "What if Judson came in and saw you like that?"

She laughed. "I told him we'd be very busy when you got back."

"Simone, we should…"

She sat up quickly and grabbed his coat, pulling him down to the bed. "Yes, we should. We should right now."

Flynn found himself running his tongue along one of her nipples as she rapidly undressed him. Once he was also naked, she pushed him onto his back and then she moved on top of him, lying down so that she could take his erection into her mouth. He put his hands on her ass and pulled her to his mouth. Both worked their mouths on the other, slowly at first, but then more rapidly. When Flynn began rubbing the cheeks of her ass, then stroking her inner thighs and finally settling on her clit, she began to moan.

"Honey, I'm not going to last much longer like this." He said, breathlessly.

"Me either. I think I'd like a ride. Will you let me ride you?" She teased.

"Anywhere you want to go."

She moved off of him and swung one long, lean leg over him, then lowered herself down until she was impaled on him. "Oh, that feels so good, Flynn. I wish we could do this always."

She stretched, pushing her boobs out, then leaned down so he could capture her nipples with his mouth. She moved her hips up and down as fast as she could.

"Honey, I won't…"

"No, me either. Oh, Flynn. Yes."

They climaxed together, then she collapsed on him. "I love you Flynn."

"And I love you, too."

"Now, tell me about this woman who looks like me."


	7. Chapter 7

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Seven

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Isn't it bleeding obvious I don't own any of this? Rating: M, in spots. Time: After season eight, before children.

"We have another one, Captain." Ryan stuck his head into Kate's office. "East Village. The uniforms first on the scene said the vic has the same puncture wounds on her neck. Lanie is on the way, as is CSU. Are you two going?"

Kate looked at Rick and smiled. "Sorry. I have to go, but you can go home."

"And leave you alone with a dangerous pseudo-vampire out there? Never."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

He shrugged. "Except for the people being dead part. That I could skip."

They arrived at the crime scene together, as usual. There were looky loos standing behind the police crime scene tapes as usual and the usual mix of people inside, doing something or doing nothing. The corpse wasn't usual.

"She was tortured before she died." Lanie said. "But she was killed the same as the others. Twin puncture wounds on the neck, and drained of as much blood as he could get out of her."

"Do we have an ID?" Kate asked.

A uniformed cop, a skinny blonde just transferred to the 12th replied. "Driver's license shows her as Andrea Gaithers, this address. Age 35. Business card in her purse says she's an antiquities dealer. All that's on the card is her name, the words antiquities dealer and her cell phone number. We couldn't find the cell phone."

Castle nodded. "The killer took it. He's called her and doesn't want us to find his phone number."

"But why kill an antiquities dealer?" Espo asked.

"Easy." Castle said, grinning. "Our boy thinks he's an ageless vampire. He probably asked our vic to get him back the hat he wore to George Washington's first inauguration. When she couldn't find it, he went berserk, tortured her to death and killed her."

"Really?" Kate said.

"Do you have a better idea?"

Kate thought, then shook her head. "His hat?"

"Okay, something. The perp is nuts, remember? He thinks he's a vampire. He wanted something, an old coffin, an autographed photo of Bela Lugosi, something and he killed her because couldn't get it."

Kate turned to Ryan and Esposito. "It's late. We'll get started tomorrow. You two do phones and financials, we'll look into her business. See if we can find her customers, or maybe employees."

When Rick and Kate arrived at the precinct, Ryan and Espo were there, looking unhappy. "Phones are easy. Her phone number is listed to a Norma Jean Baker with an address in LA. Guess where the address is?"

"The cemetery where Norma Jean Baker, AKA, Marilyn Monroe, is buried?" Castle replied. "And she paid cash. A burner phone."

"Give that man a prize. And she used it sparingly. She called three numbers. All burners. All phony names, paid for in cash."

"Financials?" Kate asked.

"No record of any bank account. She had a credit card. Used it to pay her household bills. Nothing else. She used cash for everything else, I bet. I'm betting she has a bank account under a phony name someplace. Probably a bunch of them."

Kate nodded. "No one goes to that much trouble to stay out of sight. She's doing something wrong."

"Too true." The speaker was a rail thin, older detective, with thinning grey hair and a conservative suit. "Captain, Anthony Paul, Robbery, the Five Five. We've been tracking Ms. Gaithers under a lot of aliases for a couple of years now, but we could never make an arrest."

"Why not?" Kate asked. "And what's she up to?"

"She is an antiquities dealer, but a crooked one. And she's a middleman, or middle woman, I suppose. She knows a number of people who deal in stolen antiquities, people who buy them, and some that steal them. What she doesn't do is do business with anyone not very well known to her. We've tried to tempt her with undercover cops trying to sell very valuable antiquities and you know what she did? _She_ called the cops and turned them in. We've never gotten close to her and now she never will. We can give you the names of the people she deals with and their jackets." He took a bunch of police files from a brief case and handed them over.

"Any idea who might have killed her? Any deals gone wrong? Dissatisfied customers?"

Paul shook his head. "No word on that. She does go to great lengths to keep her customers happy." He stopped for a second. "Did go, I should say."

Kate handed the files to Ryan and Esposito. "Find out all you can about these people. Check phones and financials, reach out to other agencies. If and when you get something, bring them in."

About a dozen of Gaithers' contacts were brought in to the 12th for questioning. All said more or less the same thing. They knew Andrea Gaithers in a business capacity, but not well. They had never bought anything from, or sold anything to her. What business did they have if they didn't buy or sell? Everyone explained that she had excellent contacts all over the word.

"I was searching for some 18th Century scrimshaw. Andrea found some for me, but it wasn't really what I was looking for." Said one dealer.

"I had a friend, in Europe, who had some Roman coins to sell. I thought Andrea might know a buyer. I handled the business as a favor to him, but I don't believe they ever made a deal."

"Oh, I'm absolutely mad for Buddhist artwork. Dear Andrea found me some wonderful pieces from a gentleman in Macau, but we couldn't agree on a price. I did pay the dear girl for her trouble, of course."

In short no one had ever done business with Andrea Gaithers. That they would admit to anyway.

"I'm positive every one of them is sitting on piles of stolen antiquities." Kate grumped.

"And being positive will not get you a search warrant for any of them." Castle said as kindly as he could.

Kate checked her watch. "It's five o'clock. Let's go home."

Rick did his best to look shocked. "What? Going home at quitting time? What happened to my hard working, over achieving, working 24/7 wife?"

"Sometimes I need to just go home, have a drink and a good dinner, relax and unwind and everything looks better the next morning."

"Okay, we'll figure out what attracted Nosferatu to Gaithers tomorrow."

"We need to figure out what attracted the vampire to this Gaithers woman tonight." Flynn said to Simone, who was resting her head on his chest as they lay in bed.

Simone laughed. "We know that, silly. From Judson. He told me that Gaithers was dealer in stolen antiquities. She was the sort of person that Judson would keep his eye on. She actually tried to breach The Library's security once, but failed. You have very good security here. I don't even think a vampire could break in."

"Which is why we're staying here until we catch this guy. I'm not taking any chances with you. I want you safe."

She raised her head up. "What? We can't go back to our lovely home?" She pouted disarmingly.

"No." He kissed her. "Besides, I'll be here all of the time working. Don't you want to be with me?"

Simone sighed. "Of course."

"So, you think that the vampire hired Gaithers to steal….the Judas Chalice?"

She clapped her hands. "Smart boy. Of course. He may or may not know it's here. But why he killed her, I'm not too sure."

"I'm sure I can find out more tomorrow when I go to the 12th Precinct."

Rick and Kate were about to leave when Epso stopped them. "You have to see this. We got a report of a break in at a very expensive brownstone. The place was really torn apart. Not vandalism, but like someone was looking for something. Something they wanted badly."

"Can't it wait until tomorrow?" Castle asked.

"One of the neighbors called it in because he heard the place being torn up. He said the owners were a Ms. Simone Renoir and, get this, a Doctor Flynn Carsen."

"He's supposed to be from LA."

"Right, Captain. On a hunch, I asked the uniform to ask the neighbor to describe Ms. Renoir and I asked him to take a look at a photo of you. He IDed your photo as Simone. Said her hair was shorter and darker and she was maybe a little younger, and she had a French accent."

"Son of a bitch!" Beckett swore.

"And here's the icing on the cake. Dr. Carsen works for The Library."

"Get a warrant. As soon as we get it, we're headed for The Library."

Castle, Beckett and her team were up before dawn and had a search warrant for The Library in their hands. As Judson had told them, The Library was open most of the time and it was open when they arrived. Kate marched up to the receptionist and showed her badge and the warrant. "We're here for Flynn Carsen and Simone Renoir. Where are they?"

"Why are you looking for them?"

Kate whirled around to find Judson standing right behind Esposito. No one had seen or heard him arrive.

"I believe that Ms. Renoir assaulted me and I want to interview Mr. Carsen about his consulting."

"Well, he consults with us all of the time. That's what he does, you know. Consults. As a consultant."

"Is he an employee of The Library?" Castle asked.

Judson looked very thoughtful. "He does work for us and he is on a retainer. I'm not sure whether that constitutes employment or not." He smiled. "I'll call our attorneys. They'll know." Judson pulled out his phone and began explaining to his attorney what had happened. "He says he'll be right over."

"Is Mr. Flynn or Ms. Renoir here?" Kate asked.

Judson again looked thoughtful. "I haven't seen Flynn, but the boy does come and go as he pleases. As for Ms. Renoir….Michelle, do we have a Ms. Renoir working here? I don't recall one, but there are so many people…"

Michelle shook her head. "I don't recall one either, but I'll check the roster."

"Ryan, Espo, get some uniforms and start searching the place." Kate was fuming at the delay. She did not like being disarmed and she intended to have Ms. Renoir in a prison jump suit as fast as she could.

Deep within The Library, Flynn's phone rang as he and Simone were busy reading old Manuscripts. Simone was yawning as dawn was breaking.

"Simone, the police, that Captain you spoke to and others. They have a search warrant and they're looking for us."

Simone's eyes brightened. "Silly, they can't get in here. Even a vampire couldn't even find this part of The Library, let alone get in."

"But it cuts me off from the NYPD."

"Phooey. You don't need the police. You have me. Unless you're interested in that captain. Are you?"

"Of course not. You know…." Flynn could see Simone's eyes closing.

"Damn, just when…." And then she was asleep.

Flynn gently picked her up and carried her to the bed, undressed her and then checked the clock. He had gotten up early that morning to read manuscripts, then had spent the day with the police and then came back to The Library. He smiled down at Simone and began undressing, then slid into bed with her. He was sure he wasn't going to the 12th Precinct today.

Kate had her officers search every square inch of The Library. Twice. They had found nothing. Judson insisted that they had no record of a Ms. Renoir.

"Is she Carsen's girlfriend?" She demanded.

The older man looked puzzled. "Flynn is a young man, with a young man's interests in young women. I know he was seeing a blonde woman a while ago. Jane? Janet? Juliet? Well, she was very pretty and I thought…"

"Is she his girlfriend?" Kate repeated.

"I really have no idea. Flynn and I work together, but due to the difference in ages, we don't socialize together. Of course, we could…"

"Thank you." She snapped and walked off.

Kate pulled her people out of The Library and went back to the precinct. Once there, she sat at her computer going over everything she could find about The Library, Flynn Carsen and Simone Renoir. Simone was almost a complete waste of time. There were dozens of Simone Renoirs but none of them matched the one Kate had seen. Flynn Carsen was easier, but of little help. The man had an enormous number of academic qualifications, but the most recent mention of him was several years ago. She carefully read through each entry she found on line and found that Carsen rally was both a genius and very eccentric. In the end, she didn't feel she knew any more useful information about Flynn Carsen than she did when she started.

The Library was another story. The on line information on The Library went on forever. Kate got another cup of coffee and began reading. She had been reading for hours when Rick, who had been scrubbing video footage with Ryan and Tory Ellis knocked on her door. "Ready for dinner?"

She shook her head. "I can't. I have a crazed murderer out there who thinks she's a vampire and she has some connection to Carsen and to The Library. I can't stop now. You go home, Rick. I'll work for a few more hours."

He nodded, knowing better than to try to argue with her when she was on a case like this. "Tell you what. I'll go get us some burgers from Remy's. Your usual?"

She smiled sweetly. "I love you. And yes, a cheeseburger, fries and a strawberry shake."

Rick was back quickly and they ate while Kate read about The Library.

"Rick, we've finished dinner. You're bored. Why don't you go home? I'll be there in a few hours. Okay?"

"Two hours, or I'm coming to get you and drag you home."

"Three hours?"

He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. Finally, "Okay. Three hours, but not a second longer."

Kate was rather proud that she'd called Rick two and a half hours after he'd gone home to tell him she was on her way. She walked into the darkened police garage, heading for her car and fumbling for her keys in the dark.

"Hello, Captain Castle. How are you?"

She recognized the voice at once and spun around, pulling her Glock at the same time. "Simone Renoir?"

Simone stepped out of the shadows. "Yes. May we talk?"

"Simone Renoir, you're under arrest for murder. Put your hands on your head and turn around." Simone complied and Kate walked over to her and searched her. "Slowly, put your hands behind your back."

"Certainly. Like this?" Simone complied.

Kate put the cuffs on her and read her her rights. "I need to take you into the station. Do you wish to make a statement?"

Simone turned around. "Yes. I'm a vampire."

Kate shook her head. "Simone, you're not a vampire. You may think you are, but I can get you help."

Simone smiled. "If I'm not a vampire, how do you explain these?" She opened her mouth to show her fangs.

"I've seen those before. A dentist did those for you. They aren't real. Simone, you need help."

"Not real? Then explain this." Simone's fangs retracted into her upper jaw, then came back down. She repeated the procedure several times.

"I don't know how you do that, but there are no vampires. They don't exist."

"How about this?" Simone held out her hands. The chain between the two cuffs had been pulled apart.

Kate was feeling very odd about this. "You have something, some kind of machine behind your back."

Simone turned around. "Then find it."

Kat ran her hand over Simone and found nothing.

The younger woman turned to face Kate. "Take my pulse."

Late reached for her hand to take her pulse. She couldn't find one. She tried the other hand, then Simone's neck. She had no pulse.

"Please, Captain Castle. I am a vampire. I'm dead. Well, not dead as we understand the term, but as you would. But I move, talk, dance, make love and feel joy, pain, sadness….everything you feel. But I'm a vampire and I'm over four hundred years old. And technically dead."

"Simone that's…." Kate wanted to tell her that was impossible, but couldn't.

"So, I'm a special kind of dead. Like any vampire. You know there hasn't been much good research done on us to explain all of this. Most people want to drive a stake through our heart, or cut off our heads instead of trying to understand us. It is sad."

"Simone, why have you killed those people?" Kate had to get the conversation back to somewhere that made sense.

"I've killed in the past, but never to feed. I buy the blood that I need. I've sworn to never take even a drop of blood from a human, even if it means my death. My permanent death. I never have and I never will. As far as the people I have killed, I did so to save my own life or the life of another. But I've killed no one in New York."

"Then who did kill those people?"

"Another vampire."

Kate shook her head. This just seemed to go in one big circle. But how could she explain what she had seen Simone do? "How do you know it's a… vampire?" Kate had trouble even asking that question.

"A feeling I get. I can't explain it. It would be like explaining sight to a blind person. It's something I can do, some skill I have."

"What can you tell me about…these people? In New York?"

Simone shrugged. "Not much. I confess that vampires do kill humans. I've never met a vampire that didn't kill them. They feel superior to humans because of their strength and their long lives. They don't understand that being a vampire is a curse. They'll never know love or even the happiness that comes with the companionship of a friend. They have no friends. And so I avoid others of my kind."

"Why aren't you that way?"

Simone laughed. "I don't know. Perhaps there are others like me. Perhaps it's because I was in love when I was taken that I want to love and be loved so badly."

"Flynn?"

Simone nodded and smiled. "I do love him. It's hard. I have loved humans before. I had to watch them grow old and die and leave me. But I remained the same. But that is changing, perhaps."

"How?" Kate couldn't believe she was asking a vampire about her love life. She still couldn't believe she was really talking to a vampire. _There has to be some logical explanation to this._

"I found something that Flynn was looking for. A relic. A powerful relic. It would change vampires, supposedly. When Flynn finally had it, I wanted to die. A decided to sit and watch the sun come up with Flynn. The sun would kill me of course. But Flynn touched me with this object and it changed me. I can be in the sun, although I get sunburned. "That caused Simone to laugh. "Imagine! A vampire with a sunburn. I can stay awake a bit in the day and sleep a bit at night. And I can eat a little. It's like I'm partially alive. Alive as you know it."

"Simone, I need to take you into the station." Kate hadn't gotten the last word out when Simone disappeared in a puff of wind. She appeared ten feet from Kate.

"No. If I let you take me in there, even if I can prove that I have killed none of those people, I'll never be free. A vampire? A true dead woman walking? The government would keep me and study me and do…I don't know what they'd do to me."

"Simone, I can help you. Please trust me."

"I do trust you. But you won't be deciding my future. Other people, much more powerful than you will." Simone broke the steel cuffs still around her wrists and threw them to Kate. "I want to help you. I will help you. But not at the cost of my freedom." Simone disappeared and reappeared at the end of the garage, then she was gone.

Kate put the pieces of the cuffs in her purse and walked slowly to her car, completely unsure of what to do.


	8. Chapter 8

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Eight

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Why, you're right. I own none of this. Rating: M, in places. Time: After season eight, before children.

"Flynn, you waited up for me. How sweet." Simone kissed Flynn and then sat on his lap, pushing him away from the desk he was sitting at, studying manuscripts.

"Where've you been? I've been calling you all night. You left without a word." Flynn looked worried. "Are you in trouble?"

"No. I went to see Captain Castle."

"What? Are you out of your mind? What if you'd been captured? Simone, you can't do things like that. You mean too much to me."

She kissed him again. "And you mean everything to me. But I have to do this. I cannot live in this city if there's another vampire going around killing people. I can't and I won't."

Flynn shook his head slowly. "What did you do?"

"I allowed her to handcuff me and then I proved to her that I'm a vampire. I showed her my fangs and proved they aren't phony. I broke her handcuffs, I let her try to find my pulse and I jumped away from her."

"And she believes you're a vampire and wants to help you? Or let us help her?"

Simone frowned ever so slightly. "Well, she may not have been one hundred percent convinced and she did want to take me inside the precinct. But she'll have a lot to think about. And, I stopped and got a burner phone with no GPS so I can call her and not be traced. Smart, no?"

Flynn didn't like this idea one bit. "Call her? And say what?"

"I'm positive that the vampire killed that antiquities dealer because he was looking for the Judas Chalice. I'll suggest that Captain Castle they ask around about people searching for the Judas Chalice."

"The Judas Chalice was found in Rumania. It's never been anywhere New York until we brought it here. Who would look for it here?"

Simone gave a Gallic shrug. "One who lives in New York and has money. He would never go plodding around Rumania or anyplace else in the world to find the Chalice. He'd hire people. Bad people. There must be other people like that Ms. Gaithers in New York, or around someplace."

Rick had thought that Kate was distracted when she got home, but he thought it was due to the fact that the murder investigation was going nowhere. But, she seemed to cheer up when he made her dinner and had a glass of wine.

"You okay?"

She shook her head. "No. I hate being nowhere in murder investigation. It sucks."

"You look tired. We'll go to bed and everything will look better in the morning."

Things looked no better in the morning. In fact they looked worse. Ryan called just after six AM to report a new murder. This time one of the neighbors had taken pictures of the vic and sold them to a reporter. They were all over the internet and would soon be on TV and in the newspapers.

Rick and Kate arrived at the crime scene to find it was surrounded by reporters. Not just print media and cameramen, but news trucks from local TV stations. Although the reporters yelled questions at Kate, she simply pointed to the police press relations officer.

When they got to the crime scene, Lanie and Ryan and Esposito were already there.

"Do we have an ID on the vic?" She asked.

Espo nodded. "Oh, you bet we do. Robert James, age forty one."

Kate frowned. "I've heard that name before."

"He has one arrest for a b and e when he was seventeen and that's the last time he's been inside. But, he's been suspected of over a hundred high end robberies over the last thirty years. He's pretty much a gun for hire. He doesn't usually steal for himself. He usually takes jobs stealing for other people. That's one of the things that's made him so hard to catch. By the time we find out about a robbery, he's handed the loot off to the guy who hired him."

Rick thought. "So, a job gone wrong? Maybe he decided to keep some loot he was hired to boost?"

Espo shrugged. "We'll know more later."

Ryan came out of the bedroom of the apartment. "It doesn't look like the place has been tossed. It's a little messy, but maybe he was that way."

"Or the thing that was stolen was large and easy to find. Like a golden statue of a bird covered in jewels?"

"Should we bring in Sam Spade?" Kate asked sarcastically.

"No, but if it was something big, it might be easier to ID the killer when we check surveillance and traffic cams." Castle said smugly.

"Keep that in mind." She said to her two detectives.

They turned to Lanie. "Cause of death, as if I didn't know already?"

"Exsanguination. Two puncture wounds in the vic's neck and a lot of blood gone, with none of it here in t the apartment. Maybe I'll find some more when I get him on the table."

Kate nodded and turned back to Ryan and Esposito. "Pull James' package and contact robbery and see if they can help, and phones and financials. Now, I have a meeting at One PP." She turned to Rick. "Do you want to help the boys or go home?"

"Our vampire killer case? Of course I want to stay."

Kate's meeting at One PP was more boring than usual and she was also more distracted than usual. _Simone Renoir cannot be a vampire. There are no such things as vampires and so she isn't one. She must have had cosmetic surgery to look so much like me. After all, Kelly Neiman made copies of Lanie and Espo, there's no reason that some other plastic surgeon couldn't have made Simone to look like me. I'll have to recheck Neiman's records again to make sure that Simone isn't some "gift" from beyond the grave from her. That also explains her vampire fangs, some kind of high end cosmetic surgery. If a dentist can give someone realistic looking fangs for a film or for some sub-culture, I know that someone can make fangs that can retract like hers do. As far as breaking my cuffs? That's harder. She can't really be that strong. She must have some kind of acid or something like that secreted on her. I'll send the cuffs to CSU and see what they find. And the moving from one place to the next? Like Castle said, some kind of hallucinatory drug that she dosed me with somehow. I really should tell Castle about my meeting with Simone last night. After all, she's dangerous._ She stopped and realized that last idea didn't really jibe with everything else. _If she's so dangerous, why did she seek me out? Offer to help? Is it that at some level she understands that she's sick and needs help? Is that what this is? A call for help? How do I convince Simone that I can help her? Can I help her? She may be a killer._ As someone from Personnel droned on, Kate thought about Simone as a killer. _She did say that she's killed, but is that a part of her delusion? In spite of everything, I can't see Simone as a killer, not matter how severe her delusions are. But I've been wrong before. I know what I need to do. I have to find Simone Renoir and bring her in. Once I have her in custody, we can proceed. If she is delusional, she'll get treatment and not prison. That's the best I can do, and I'll do it._

Kate left the meeting certain that she had thought through everything that had happened in her meetings with Simone and that she had explained them all rationally. But there was a little voice in the back of her mind that wanted more answers.

She got back to her precinct just after lunch and was met by Castle. "Guess who came to see the late, unlamented Mr. James just as CSU was finishing up at his apartment?"

"I have no idea."

"No, guess." Castle insisted.

"Would you like to guess where you'll be sleeping tonight if you don't tell me?" Kate said with false sweetness.

"It's his girlfriend. Sarah Oldberg, thirty two, a lawyer at Hale, Robbins and Marzinni."

"A criminal lawyer?"

Castle shook his head. "Patent law. According to social media she's some sort of super lawyer if you think your patent's being infringed on. I have no clue what the lawyerese on her website means, but she's made millions at it."

"Any chance she's into collecting lots of nice expensive antiquities that her boyfriend could steal for her?" Kate asked hopefully.

"No luck there." Castle said, shaking her head. "She's into speed. She has a street legal Shelby Cobra that she runs around in with all kinds of upgrades in it. Esposito want to marry her I think. She drove over in the car."

"Espo? Marry? Really?"

"Okay, he'd just want to have sex with her in the back seat, if it had a back seat. But, she's gotten into something much faster. She races airplanes. She's bought a Navy World War Two fighter, an F8F Bearcat and had it modified so it'll go faster. And she's in the market for a MiG 19 jet. Apparently they're old technology as jets go and a lot of third world countries will sell them cheap. Cheap is relative, of course. It'd still cost millions, but if we could get one of the two seat trainers, we could…."

"No, we couldn't, Rick. Believe me, we couldn't." She have him a quick kiss. "Now let's go talk to her."

Ms. Oldberg was young, fit, attractive and very aware of her rights.

"Thank you for coming in today, Ms. Oldberg." Kate began.

"You're welcome, of course. I want to find out who killed Bob as much as you do. And please don't try to tell me that Bob was some sort of master criminal. He had one arrest when he was a teenager many years ago and he hasn't broken a law since."

"Still, Mr. James had an unfortunate habit of being brought in for questioning concerning…"

Ms. Oldberg interrupted. "I prefer to think that the police had an unfortunate habit of being unable to do anything but bring in anyone with a police record. I've heard all about this from Bob. As I told you, I'm not interested in hearing it from you two."

Seeing that Kate was starting to get angry at the insult to the police, Castle spoke up." What exactly did Mr. James do for a living?"

"He was an expediter. He had many contacts in the art and antiquities world and he was a very good negotiator. People who wanted, say a Cezanne painting, would contact Bob and he would locate a Cezanne and negotiate a price."

"That sounds like a lot of money was involved. Are there any dissatisfied customers out there?"

Ms. Oldberg shook her head determinedly. "Bob was passionate about always satisfying his customers. He'd rather lose money on a deal than have an unhappy customer."

"But we both know that there are some customers who are impossible to satisfy. Can you tell us anything about his recent business contacts?"

She shook her head again. "Bob was always very discrete about his business. There was after all a lot of money involved. And very big egos. At best, he'd tell me some things about where he ate lunch with a client, or a funny story the client told. But, it's been months since he told me anything."

Kate decided to change tack. "Are you familiar with the manner of Mr. James' death?"

Ms. Oldberg shuddered slightly. "I saw it on the news. His blood was drained. The press is calling it a vampire killing, which is absurd."

"But the NYPD knows that there is a vampire subculture in the city. People who pretend to be vampires, dress as vampires, even have artificial fangs. They even drink blood. Would Mr. James have been involved with anyone like that?"

"Of course not. Bob would never associate with such people. He was a gentleman."

"Having odd hobbies is hardly limited to the poor, Ms. Oldberg." Castle said. "I know Civil War reenactors that spend thousands of dollars to look, dress and be armed exactly like a Civil War soldier. There's a man I know who goes to Colorado every year to meet up with friends who dress and act as mountain men from the 1820s and 30s. He's a multimillionaire. So, can you think of anyone who Mr. James might have found to be…odd?"

"He never described his clients to me, except in the most general terms and usually favorably. He'd say that the person was nice, or pleasant or interesting. That's all. He never criticized anyone to me."

They talked to Ms. Oldberg for another quarter of an hour, but they concluded she had nothing really to tell them. Or perhaps nothing she would tell them.

"Do you think she's an awfully smart lawyer to have been fooled so completely by James?" Kate asked.

Rick shrugged. "Women in love do some very odd things."

Kate laughed. "Don't I know it? But, if I were a very successful thief, I might just want to have a lawyer on my side. Just in case,"

Castle thought for a moment. "A lawyer who specializes in patent law?"

"She works for a very large firm. I'm sure they have criminal defense specialists."

"Turning your criminal defense over to some lawyer who wasn't crazy about you? Someone who just wouldn't take your word on your innate honesty?" Castle countered.

"Maybe he just wanted a girlfriend with a fast plane available."

Castle smiled. "Oh, I like that. Nikki Heat chasing after an evildoer who's flying a MiG 19. Nikki would be flying…."

"An F-4 Phantom with Rook in the back seat." Kate finished for him.

"It is _so_ hot that you know things like that."

'Hot or not, Castle. She told us nothing."

But, Lanie Parish did have something to tell them.

"Kate can you come down here? I have something I need to tell you." She said over the phone.

"Can't you just tell me?"

"I'd rather you come here."

In a few minutes Rick and Kate were in the morgue with Lanie.

"I wasn't able to get any useable DNA from the skin under the victim's fingernails. The DNA was too degraded."

"Why was it degraded?" Kate asked.

"Because the skin was dead, Kate. And it had been dead for a while. Your vic had contact with a corpse sometime before he died."

 _Or a corpse had contact with him._ Kate thought. Although she knew that there were no vampires, she couldn't shake the idea that there was something more going on here than they were seeing.

Simone Renoir woke up in the Marie Antoinette bed to find herself in the arms of the man she loved.

"Did you sleep well?" Flynn asked.

"I always sleep like the dead." She said, deadpanned.

He groaned. "That isn't funny, all things considered."

"But it is true."

"Okay, it's true. Now we need to get dressed. Judson wants to see us as soon as you're awake."

She ran a finger down his chest. "Suppose we have other plans?"

"What other plans?"

They were a half an hour late in getting to Judson's office, but Judson didn't seem to mind.

"I have some more news for you concerning your hunt for the killer vampire. A Mr. Robert James was murdered, according to the local news. Two small puncture wounds in the jugular vein and he was drained of most of his blood."

"Why not all of the blood?" Flynn asked.

"The veins collapse when the blood is removed." Simone said matter-of-factly.

Flynn decided he did not want to know how Simone knew that.

She told him anyway. "It's a medical fact, Flynn. I read about it."

"If I may?" Judson said, getting their attention. "Mr. James was apparently some sort of master criminal, a thief, in fact, well known for stealing antiquities, among other things. He's come to our attention before." Judson looked at his computer and hesitantly pushed a button. Nothing happened. Simone leaned across his desk and pushed several buttons. A video of Mr. James wandering around The Library came on. From the clothes and haircut, it was at least twenty years old. Then another video came on. "This was taken less than a week before. We think Mr. James was looking for weaknesses in our security systems. However, there are none." Judson stopped and thought. "Well, none that someone like Mr. James could take advantage of."

"He's looking for the Judas Chalice for our killer!" Simone cried, excitedly.

"We don't know that." Judson cautioned.

"I do." She re-ran the latest video several times.

"Do you see anything I missed?" Judson asked.

"No. But, I went to see Captain Castle the other night. I explained who and what I am. Regrettably, she didn't believe me. I'd like to bring her to The Library. She needs my help if we're ever to catch this killer. And, I'm afraid we need her help. We don't have the resources to catch him by ourselves, and I'm not sure I'm powerful enough to kill him if we do catch him."

Judson shook his head. "We can't risk asking her to come here to meet you. She'd try to arrest you, and me and Flynn and everyone else for harboring a fugitive. Who knows what might happen if we were all away? In jail?"

"But, what if we showed her The Library's secrets? She'd certainly believe a little thing like a vampire after seeing some of the real secrets that are here."

"Impossible!" Judson said at once. "Never."

And hour later, Simone was on the phone. "Hello, Captain Castle?"

"Yes?" Kate said, immediately alerting Ryan that she needed the call traced.

"It's me, Simone Renoir. Do you have a few minutes to talk?"

"Certainly, Simone."

"And please don't try to trace this call. It can't be done." Although the burner phone she had bought had been a good idea, Simone found that The Library had some very spectacular technological tricks up its sleeves.

"But you know I have to try."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just meet and talk with me?"

Kate took a deep breath. She had to somehow talk Simone into surrendering. She was more and more convinced that the woman, while clearly delusional, was not a criminal. At least not a murderer. "Will you come to the precinct? We can talk here."

Simone giggled. Kate had been sure that wouldn't work, but she had to try. "I don't think I'd be talking to you for very long. Could you meet me at The Library?"

"Do you want me to come alone?"

Simone laughed again. "It would be better if you brought your husband along. I suspect he may be more….open minded than you are about certain things."

Kate looked over at Rick, who was standing in her doorway. "Simone, you want me and Rick to meet you at The Library?"

As soon as she said the words, Rick nodded his head vigorously.

"What time?"

"Oh, any time during the night. I can stay up a bit in the daytime, but I'm really much better at night."

"We'll meet you at nine o'clock tonight."


	9. Chapter 9

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Nine

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it! Rating: M, at times. Time: After season eight, but before children.

Rick and Kate left Ryan and Esposito to watch The Library with strict instructions not to enter The Library without a specific order from either Kate or Rick. "I don't think that Simone is a killer, but she is delusional. I want to convince her to come with us so we can get her proper medical care. Got that?"

Ryan and Esposito nodded, although they didn't agree with letting their boss and her husband go in alone. However, they would follow orders.

"I'm really dying to see if Simone really does look like you. Up close and personal, I mean."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "How up close and personal, babe?"

"Just to see. You know I love only you." Rick thought for a moment. "I wonder if Nikki could have a doppelganger out there someplace. It'd make an interesting story."

Kate ignored him.

When they walked in to The Library, they found that there were dozens of people wandering about, but that Mr. Judson was waiting for them.

"Will you come with me, please?" He smiled and led them down a long, wide hallway with equally wide and long hallways branching off. Judson stopped at a marble wall. "Here we are." He said and walked through the wall.

Rick and Kate looked at each other. "How did he do that?" Rick said.

"It's got to be a trick." Kate said, pushing on the wall, but finding it solid.

Judson stuck his head out. "I'm sorry. Here, take my hands."

They each grasped a hand and walked easily through the wall.

"How did you do that?" Castle asked, running his hands over the now solid wall.

Kate just stared at the wall and then at Rick and then at Judson.

"Captain Castle. Over here."

Kate turned to see Simone waving at her. Flynn Carsen was standing by her side, looking very protective.

The three walked over to Simone and Flynn.

"I'm so glad you could come, Kate. May I call you Kate?" Simone asked.

"Certainly, Simone. This is my husband, Rick Castle."

Rick held out his hand. "Call me Rick. And we know Dr. Carsen already and Mr. Judson." Rick took a step closer to Simone. "You so look exactly like my wife, with shorter, darker hair and a bit younger."

"I'm hardly younger. I'm over four hundred years old."

Kate pushed the odd event with the wall out of her mind. "Simone, I really want to help you. You need medical care, and I can help you get what you need. I just need…"

Kate was interrupted by the sound of metal on the marble floors. She turned to see a sword bouncing along towards them.

"That's Excaliber." Flynn said. "He's a friend of mine. He's kind of playful, but not really dangerous."

"Excaliber?" Rick asked. "Like King Arthur's sword?"

"It is King Arthur's sword. It's magic." Flynn saw the look of disbelief on Kate's face. "Check it out. There aren't any wires of anything holding it up." The sword stopped in front of Kate, about a foot off the ground. She ran her hands all around the sword, but found nothing. Then she smiled. "Magnets. There are electromagnets under the floor and in the roof. The sword is steel and the magnets make it go up and down."

Judson, Flynn and Simone laughed. "No, but it's a good guess. "Judson said. "Simone told us you'd be hard to convince. Do you remember the story of Icarus and Daedalus, the ancient Greeks who made wings out of wood with feathers held on with wax? Icarus flew too close to the sun and the wax melted, the feathers fell off and he fell to his death. Daedalus, however, stayed low and lived. We have Daedalus' wings here." Judson reached behind a display case and pulled out a pair of wings made of wood and feathers."

"Daedalus' wings?" Kate said, disbelievingly.

"You'll find that at The Library we have a lot more than books." Judson said with a smile. "Rick, would you care to do the honors?"

Rick strapped the wings on and flapped them, gently rising in the air. "This is amazing. Daedalus' wings? This is so cool!"

"Can you hover about a foot off the floor so Kate can check for hidden wires?" Simone called to him.

Kate ran her hands all around the wings, but could find no wires or other means of support. And the wings weren't steel. She shook her head. "I don't know how you're doing this, but these are no ancient Greek wings that allowed a man to fly."

Judson and Flynn exchanged a look.

"I told you she'd be hard to convince."

Judson walked them to another display case. "Perhaps a view of the French crown jewels? They were thought to have been stolen when mobs ransacked the palaces during the French Revolution, and the gold melted down and the jewels removed and sold individually by whoever stole them. But as you can see, including the famous French Royal Blue diamond, believed to have been recut, but there it is."

"I'm not an expert on diamonds." Kate responded.

"How about the Golden Fleece that Jason and the Argonauts went after?" Judson held up a fleece that did appear to be made out of gold.

"Very thin gold wires." Kate explained.

"Would you step over here to the very large exhibits?" Judson asked politely.

They stopped at a railing that overlooked a vast pool of water. Something very large was swimming in it.

"That's Nessie. The Loch Ness monster, although why she'd be called a monster is beyond me. She's really quite sweet and she's an herbivore as well."

Kate shook her head. "It's CGI or something."

"Kate I know a little bit about the movies and…"Rick began.

Before Rick could finish, Simone grabbed Kate's Glock, pointed it at her chest and fired. She collapsed at once.

"Simone!" Kate cried, kneeling down by her. She quickly checked her and found no life signs. She shot to her feet. "You two did this to her! You allowed her delusions to get out of control and now she's dead. Do you understand me? Dead!"

"No, I'm not." Simone said.

Kate looked down in shock. Simone was alive.

"Can you help me up, Flynn?" He quickly did so.

"Did the bullet go all the way through me?" She asked, turning away from Kate.

"Yes." Kate managed to say.

"Damn. I loved this blouse, too. Now it's ruined." She unbuttoned the blouse partway. "And my new brassiere as well."

"We'll buy you some new ones." Rick said, completely stunned.

"That's sweet, but not necessary. I have plenty of money. "She put her hand on Kate's arm. "Kate, I really am a vampire. I can't be killed with a gun. If you truly can't believe that I'm a vampire, can you believe that I'm a woman who can do things that you can't and that I desperately want to help you catch this killer. Can you at least do that?"

Kate stared at her for over a minute. "Simone, you're a vampire." She said in a whisper.

Simone shrugged. "It has its disadvantages, but it can be fun some times."

Kate decided that she needed a cup of coffee, at the very least. Flynn led them to the office where he was researching the Judas Chalice. He also had a coffee maker.

While they all drank their coffee, Flynn explained about the Judas Chalice.

"Judas was the very first vampire. Whether he was a vampire before he met Christ, or not, no one knows. But the thirty pieces of silver be received were melted down and made in to a chalice. A chalice with…unusual properties."

"As I told you, Kate, "Simone took over, "the chalice changed me. We don't know how, but we think that the killer, the other vampire, does know of its powers. I lived in New Orleans for many years protecting the medallion that held the secret to the chalice. But, until I met Flynn, I had no idea how to use the medallion to find the chalice."

"As usual, Simone is being modest. I'd have never have found it without her."

Simone smiled at the man she so loved. "But we found that a group of Russians were trying to resurrect Vlad Dracula to build an army of vampires to return Russia to its former place as a super power. Why they thought that they could control a bunch of vampires is beyond me."

Simone continued. "They had a Professor Lazlo with them to try to resurrect Vlad Dracula's body which they had stolen from a crypt in Rumania. Lazlo was an expert on vampire lore. They planned to use the chalice to effect that. What they didn't know was that Lazlo was really Dracula. He had drunk some infected blood a century or more ago which aged and crippled him. When he got the chalice, he recovered his full powers. I fought Dracula, but he had me beaten. Luckily, Flynn stabbed Dracula with a branch of an aspen tree, which saved….A lot of people."

"You killed Dracula? The real Dracula? A vampire?" Castle asked. "That is so unbelievably cool."

"Dracula was the vampire that had turned me. My only wish as a vampire had been to kill him for what he did to me and to protect the secret of the chalice. Those being done, I felt I could at last die and my soul would be at rest. But as Flynn sat with me to so I could watch one more sunrise, a sunrise that would kill me, he touched me with the chalice. It did something to me and I lived. I've become more human. I sleep a bit at night and am awake in the day, just a bit, plus I eat food, I don't just drink blood. Since we've been back, we've been looking for something in The Library's records that can tell us what the chalice can do and how to use it. And have found nothing."

"Until another vampire began killing in New York." Flynn added.

"So, what can you tell us about what you've learned?" Simone asked excitedly. She hadn't felt so alive since, well, since she was alive.

Kate briefed them. She noticed that both Simone and Flynn took notes.

"You know your suspects alibis might not hold up since the killer is a vampire." Simone said.

"What do you mean?" Kate asked, still trying to wrap her mind around the idea that she was sitting in The Library talking to a real vampire. And a friendly one at that.

"Kate, you've seen how I can disappear and appear someplace else. I can go up to a couple of hundred yards. Mr. Grace was at a party and was allegedly too far away from Ms. Welles to have gotten to her place without being missed. But if he were a vampire, he could have gone to the bathroom for a few minutes…"

"And, what? Jumped to her apartment, killed her and jumped back?"

Simone nodded. "The same with her ex-boyfriend, Mr. Wohl. He was supposedly with some woman he picked up in a bar. A woman you've not been able to find. But, once she's asleep, he could have jumped to Welles's apartment and also killed her and jumped back."

"And since we can't prove or disprove his alibi now, he's in the clear. And, if sometime later we find her, as far as she knows, he was there all night. Unless we find he'd been drinking blood with her or something." Castle said.

"The same goes with the people like Ms. Garret, Ms. Welles' lesbian lover, or anyone connected with the artist, Joan Leuthen. And the fence for stolen goods, and the thief. Unless a person was sitting in front of a dozen witnesses, they could be the murderer." Simone smiled. "Oh, we saw the thief on our security system, Mr. James. He was here casing the place about twenty years ago and he was here not long ago. I suspect that our killer vampire contacted them to steal the Judas Chalice. When they failed, they were killed so there would be no loose ends."

"That's damned ruthless."

"Many vampires consider themselves a superior species, Mr. Castle. They look on humans as cattle, to be used and consumed."

"Not her, of course." Flynn said quickly.

Kate was starting to get a headache. "How do I tell my police to be on the lookout for a vampire?"

"You don't." Flynn said. "You tell them what you've already told them. You're looking for someone who believes that he, or she, is a vampire. But when you catch the killer, that's when the problems start."

"And that's when you'll need Flynn and me."

Kate shook her head. "We already have kicked Flynn off the team for being with you. He can't just walk back in."

"Of course he can." Simone said with a smile. "He was merely off recruiting another expert. Someone who believes she's a vampire. Me."

"You? Really?"

"But of course. I'm poor crazy Simone, who thinks she's a vampire and wants to help Flynn and the NYPD out. Of course, your police will notice that I can be exposed to sunlight without going poof, and that I can stay awake a bit in the daytime. That will prove to them that I'm not really a vampire."

"Unless you show them your fangs or go jumping from place to place." Kate said softly.

"Easy peasy."

"How do we explain that you look almost exactly like my wife?"

Simone laughed. "We don't. It's just an amazing coincidence, which is all it really is. They do say that there's a perfect double for everyone out there someplace."

Castle frowned. "Someone who looks exactly like me?" He shook his head. "Never."

Kate just smiled at her husband. "Of course not."

Ryan and Esposito were surprised, to say the least when the two Castles arrived the next evening with Flynn Carsen and a woman who looked a lot like Kate.

"What the hell is he doing back here? And who is she?" Espo asked.

Simone held out her hand. "I'm Simone Renoir, from Nawlins. I'm here to help you."

"Simone, dear, can you wait out here so the police and I can talk?"

"Of course, mon cher." She replied, winking at Flynn.

Kate led her detectives and Flynn into her office. "Dr. Carsen was arranging for Simone to come up from New Orleans to help us. Although Simone thinks she's a vampire, she's very smart…."

"Brilliant actually." Flynn put in.

"Brilliant." Kate agreed. "And she's agreed to help us. She can give us an insight into the mind of someone with a severe vampire fetish. Not just a fetish, but a psychosis."

"She looks just like you." Ryan said, looking at Simone through the glass partition. "A little younger, maybe."

"Watch it." Castle said.

"A tiny bit." Ryan quickly corrected himself.

Kate nodded. "I can't explain it. They say there's a double for everyone in the world out there somewhere. She's not my long lost twin sister, because I don't have one. Neither Kelly Neiman nor any other plastic surgeon has worked on her. There'd be minute traces if she'd had surgery. So, she's just a woman who looks a lot like me."

"And who thinks she's a vampire?" Espo added.

"And who wants to help. And we need all the help we can get."

Kate's phone rang. "Beckett." She listened, then hung up. "We have another one. Let's go."

Chelsea Reynolds had been a model, specializing in modelling sexy underwear and bikinis. She had been tall, slender, and had been in excellent shape. She had been badly beaten before she had been killed.

"Cause of death?" Kate asked.

"Exsanguination." Lanie replied. "She bled out through two holes in her jugular. But this one is different."

"How?" Kate and Simone asked at once.

Lanie shook her head. "It's cute when you and Castle do that thing, but you and her? It's just…"

"How is this death different?" Kate insisted.

"Take a look. The other so-called vampire killings, the blood was removed with virtually no blood spatter. On her, we have blood running down her chest and dripping onto the carpet. This one was sloppy where the other ones were….I'd say, done with surgical precision."

"Do you think a doctor was involved in the other murders?" Simone asked.

Lanie looked at Kate who nodded. "Simone is working with us. You can answer her."

"Possibly, or someone with some kind of training. Maybe not in medicine, but an autopsy tech or an embalmer. Or just some guy with a fetish and enough money to learn how to do this."

Simone nodded and began walking around the apartment.

Lanie leaned over to talk to Kate privately. "She looks just like you, except for the hair and she thinks she's a vampire? And you're letting her on the case? I know she's crazy, but are you crazy, too?"

Kate shook her head. "One PP is going crazy with this. A serial killer who thinks he's a vampire and now what looks like some copy cat killer? And we've got nothing. No leads, no suspects, no physical evidence that means anything. Maybe I am crazy, but I need all the help I can get."

Before Lanie could reply, Kate's phone rang. "Beckett." There was a long silence while Kate listened. "Of course. I'll be happy to brief Chief Patterson. Give me an hour?" There was a short pause. "Of course. In half an hour."

She turned to Rick. "I have to go. I need to brief the brass at One PP."

As she left, Simone walked with her. "Kate, this was no murder by a vampire. I don't feel the presence of a vampire as I did previously."

"So it's a human copycat?"

"I'm afraid so."

Kate sighed. "We still have to investigate it. It's still a murder."

"Perhaps I can help." Simone said no more, but walked back to the crime scene.


	10. Chapter 10

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Ten

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I don't own any more than I did in chapter one. Rating: M in places. Time: After season eight, before children.

The briefing at One PP wasn't much. Kate truly had no leads and she wasn't the type to try to BS her way through a briefing.

"Captain Beckett?" Chief Patterson looked uncomfortable. "How is…Dr. Carsen doing? Um, helping with the investigation, that is?"

Kate was surprised that he hadn't been brought up before. Using someone like Carsen was highly unusual and she was expecting to get heat for it. "He's provided several possible avenues of approach. However, we've gotten no solid leads yet."

Chief Patterson nodded. "The mayor got a call from Congressman Charles Baker yesterday. It seems that Congressman Baker's daughter knows Dr. Carsen as an archeologist. He helped her find a previously unknown Roman fort in the Negev Desert. It made the daughter's reputation. The Congressman was quite…impressed with Dr. Carsen."

'We also got a call from Mrs. Phyllis Lyons." Said Deputy Chief Bellows. "It seems Dr. Carsen is very active in helping with her many charities. Very active. And very, very helpful."

"And the young lady that Dr. Carsen brought in? How is she doing?" The Chief asked.

"Ms. Renoir? She hasn't been with me long enough to form an opinion of her abilities."

"Mayor Weldon got a call from the mayor of New Orleans. They met at a conference some years ago. It seems Ms. Renoir is well known in political circles in New Orleans. She owns a very popular club and is….helpful to the local politicians."

Kate nodded. Carsen and Simone seemed to have cut off any complaints about her use of them as consultants. "I'm glad that everyone is happy with my consultants. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to the scene of the latest crime?"

Simone didn't know much about crime solving, but as a vampire she did understand blood. She wandered down the hallway, following the scent of blood. She turned a corner and found that she was out of sight of the police gathered at Ms. Reynolds' apartment. She stopped at an apartment where the scent of blood was quite strong.

She looked around. "I'm not doing this in front of anyone, so…" Simone jumped to the other side of the door. To her disappointment the apartment was empty. It was completely bare of any furnishings. It seemed that no one lived there.

"But there's that scent of blood." She muttered to herself. She tracked the scent through the apartment to the bathroom. There she found fresh blood around the sink. "Got you, I think."

She walked back to the front door, opened it slightly and finding no one there, walked back into the hall. She left the door to the apartment open.

"Excuse me? Detectives?"

Ryan and Esposito, as well as Castle, turned to her. "Yes?"

"There's a door open just down the hall. It could be significant, no?"

Esposito glared at two uniforms. "I thought you said you checked this floor?"

As the two tried to explain, Simone spoke. "The killer might have just left."

The four of them walked down the hallway to the now open door. Ryan and Esposito pushed Castle and Simone out of the way, and entered with guns drawn.

"Clear." Espo announced a minute later. "The place is empty."

"Got something in the bathroom." Ryan called out. "Fresh blood. Get CSU to sweep the place now."

Simone moved out of the way as the CSU techs began their work.

"Did you have anything to do with this? Finding this, I mean?" Rick whispered to Simone.

"Of course."

"Get ahold of the super and find out who the last tenant was. And find out if they changed the locks on the front door to the apartment." Espo said.

The building super had been standing at the end of the hallway, watching the police. Ryan got the information they needed. "The tenant moved out three days ago, and they hadn't gotten around to changing the locks. The tenant, Joseph Nordgren, turned in all of his keys, but it would have been easy for him to make a copy."

"What can you tell us about Nordgren?" Castle asked.

The super shrugged. "Quiet type. Never any trouble, no wild parties, in fact I'm not sure he ever had anyone over, but then, I'm not their keeper, you know. I got his work info in my office. You want me to get it?"

"Please." Castle said, smiling at Simone.

Nordgren worked for a medical supply house in the Bronx. When they went to see him the next morning, the detectives found that he hadn't shown up for work and hadn't called in. The only address they had for him was his old address and his phone was shown as a land line to his apartment.

"Did he have a cell phone?" Ryan asked.

Nordgren's boss shrugged. "I never saw one, but every kid his age has one, so I guess he did."

"Have you noticed anything missing?" Castle asked. "Specifically something that might be used for a blood transfusion?"

The boss shrugged again. "I'd have to do a full inventory, and even then, some stuff is always missing and some stuff we have more than the inventory says we should have. It's a crapshoot."

"But you do have equipment for a blood transfusion?"

"This is a medical supply house. We have everything a hospital would need."

After asking that he contact the police if Nordgren contacted him, the three left.

"Anything?" Kate asked, when they returned to the precinct.

"Nordgren's in the wind. His boss says he hasn't come to work today. We'll get started on phones and financials." Ryan said.

"Nordgren is our killer. I just got the CSU report while you were out. The blood is from Reynolds and we got a bloody fingerprint. It's Nordgren's."

Espo nodded. "Nordgren's family lives in Nebraska. They say they don't hear from him much. He's always been kind of a loner. No record of a cell phone, but he could have a burner. His landline shows a few calls to his work and some calls to a Chinese food place, a pizza place and a deli. Apparently all food deliveries. I've had uniforms canvas the places to see if anyone knows Nordgren or knows anything about him."

Several hours later, the uniforms reported back. All Nordgren ever did was call for his food, pay for it and go back inside his apartment. "The people we talked to said he probably never said two words to them and he never tipped. But, he did come into Marcello's Pizza on the night that our vic died, about the time of death. The manager said he ordered a pepperoni pizza and ate it there, but he said our perp seemed upset."

"Did he notice anything else? Blood on his clothes? If he beat her to death with his hands, he should have had cuts and bruises on his hands." Kate asked.

"They said he's not the kind of guy that people notice. And they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary."

"He has some cash from his bank account, so he could stay at an SRO for a while without attracting any attention, but sooner or later he's going to have to move and then we'll get him."

The precinct settled back down to the routine of the ongoing murder investigations. And, just as it got dark, Simone came in, Flynn being back at The Library researching the Chalice. Kate briefed the woman on what they had found.

"Pizza?" Simone said. "I'd love some pizza right now. Perhaps we could visit this Marcello's?"

"Do you have an idea?" Kate asked.

"If he killed her and took her blood, he'd have been carrying it on him. It's possible that I can track the scent of the blood. I did get a good idea of its scent in the apartment."

Kate and Rick grabbed their coats. "Worth a try."

Marcello's was busy, so the three stood outside, as if trying to decide whether to go in or not. Then Simone smiled. "He was here. This way."

They followed her for two blocks and then she stopped. "I've lost the scent." She looked around. "There. The butcher shop. It's full of fresh meat and masking the scent of human blood." Simone walked two blocks past the butcher shop going north, then turned and walked two blocks south of the ship. Finally, she walked two blocks east and regained the scent. "I think he might have spilled some blood around here. The scent is strong."

Another two blocks brought them to an SRO, the East Side Inn. "This would be a good place to hide. I'll bet no one asks any questions here, ever." Rick said.

"Then we should ask no questions either. "Simone said. They followed her from floor to floor until they got to the fifth floor. She stopped in front of a door. "The blood scent of our vic is very strong. He's inside. "

Kate pulled out her phone. "I'll get a warrant and some uniforms to back us up."

"We can't just go in and grab him?" Simone asked.

"Not without a search warrant."

"But what if he comes out into the hallway willingly?" Simone said with a smile.

"Why would he?" Castle asked.

"Silly boy." Simone laughed. She turned away from Rick and put her hands inside her blouse. In seconds, she had pulled her bra off and handed it to Kate. When she turned around to face the door, Rick could see her nipples straining against the thin cloth of her blouse, and the blouse itself was unbuttoned all the way.

"I should stand over there." Rick said quickly and began to move away, looking away from Simone.

Kate grabbed his arm. "Stand where you can help if he tries something." She smiled. "They're just like my boobs, you know."

Simone rapped on the door. "Joey, it's me, Simone. Please come to the door."

They could hear movement inside.

"Joey, don't you remember me? I need you so badly. Don't you remember our night together?"

"Go away."

But they could hear footsteps coming to the door.

"He's looking through the peephole." Simone whispered. "Joey, lover. Open the door, please. I need you so badly."

Joseph Nordgren opened the door, but kept the chain on the door. "I don't know…Oh, my god. Who _are_ you?"

"It's your Simone. Don't you want to see me?" Simone opened her blouse a bit and then smiled, showing her fangs.

Nordgren opened the door and stepped in the hallway, his mouth wide open. "Simone…who?"

"NYPD!" Kate yelled, stepping in front of Simone.

Nordgren pushed Kate away, only to find Simone had somehow gotten in his apartment. One punch from Simone and he was unconscious.

"Nasty boy." Simone said, looking down at him.

"How are we going to explain this?" Kate asked, once they were back at the precinct.

"Simple." Simone said. "I was looking for a friend, got the wrong building, and he attacked me."

"How do we explain the fangs, and you standing there showing him your boobs?"

Simone shrugged. "So I dress a bit provocatively. That's no reason for him to attack me. And as for the fangs, do you really think his public defender will let him mention that? Unless he's going to try to get his client off as not guilty by reason of insanity."

Simone was right. When they found containers of Chelsea Reynold's blood in Nordgren's room, as well as photos of her dead body, the public defender wasn't at all interested in Simone and worked very hard for a plea deal that kept his client off of death row.

Kate had to stifle a yawn when Ryan came in to tell her that the DA had signed off on the plea deal.

"Twenty five to life, but as odd as Nordgren is, he could get shanked long before that."

"Did he tell us his motive?" Kate asked.

"Basically, he has no social skills. He's in his mid thirties, has no friends, and no girls, ever, apparently. Chelsea was not only gorgeous, but very outgoing. She talked to everyone. Nordgren took that to mean that she was interested in him, but she wasn't. When he turned him down for a date, he snapped and beat her into unconsciousness. He spent a lot of time in front of his TV and remembered about the vampire killer. He had borrowed, his attorney's word, some blood transfusion equipment. He went to her apartment, with the medical stuff and started removing her blood. He made a mess of it, but it killed her."

Kate shook her head. "What a strange world we live in."

"We'd be out of a job if it weren't."

"Speak for yourself, Espo. I can still go to law school."

The next week was slow. There were no more vampire killings, or any copycat vampire killings. The detectives went back over the alibis of all of their possible suspects with Simone, although neither Ryan nor Esposito were too happy to have to deal with a self described "vampire expert".

Both Ryan and Espo came to see Kate one morning when Simone was back at The Library sleeping. "Look, Captain, Simone is certainly easy on the eyes, she's a nice lady, and she knows all about vampires, or would be vampires. But, vampires don't exist. Do we have to go over all of our witness reports and checks on possible suspects? I mean if one of our suspects can turn into a bat and fly, then we've got more suspects than we can ever alibi out." Espo said.

"And we should be issued with silver bullets, or crosses or garlic or something." Ryan added, somewhat facetiously.

"Suppose the vampire is Jewish, or Muslim? Look at all the religions in the city." Kate said as seriously as she could.

"Simone just doesn't add anything to our investigation. Ryan and I would like her to go. In as friendly and as nice a way as we can manage, but she needs to go."

"That's not possible. Dr. Carsen, as well as Ms. Renoir turn out to have some powerful friends in this city, as I discovered at One PP. So, unless you two successfully run for mayor, or start some huge charity that the great and good of New York love, she stays. And remember, she got Nordgren, didn't she?"

Both Ryan and Esposito thought that there was something very odd about how Simone had just happened to be looking for a friend and came across Nordgren, but they could hardly call their captain a liar to her face.

"We'll have some more surveillance footage ready for Ms. Renoir when she comes in tonight." Ryan said as the two left.

Once back at their desks, Ryan leaned over towards Esposito. "There's something about that woman. She knocked Nordgren out with one punch. Gave him a concussion that send him to the hospital."

"She should have knocked his damned head off." Espo laughed. "That does make her hot, though."

"Hot enough to date?" Ryan asked with a smile.

"She's got a boyfriend, and she thinks she's a vampire. Two good reasons to stay away from her. Especially her thinking she's a vampire."

When Simone came in, Kate was just finishing up some paperwork. She called Simone into her office to tell her what her detectives had said. "Both Ryan and Espo came to me and asked that you be let go. Since they don't believe vampires exist, they don't think you add anything to the investigation."

Simone giggled. "Do _you_ believe vampires exist?"

Kate slowly nodded her head. "Yes." she said quietly. "Now I do." She stopped and looked at Simone and decided to ask a question that had bothered her. "How many vampires are there world wide? Or just in the US, or in New York? Can you give me a number?"

Simone shook her head slowly. "I have no idea. I would guess that New York had no vampires until recently. When people start showing up drained of blood, it attracts attention. I think our killer either moved here recently, or perhaps had a blood supply that was somehow cut off and so he had to feed on humans. Of course, vampires like to feed. It makes them feel superior. And that's why I doubt there are many vampires in the world. Each vampire considers himself a god, superior too all other living beings. It damages their egos to know that there's someone just as powerful around."

Espo knocked on Kate's door. "Captain, we have one to roll on."

Kate sighed and called Castle to meet her at the crime scene.

"A super market?" Rick asked once everyone had reached the crime scene. "Really? What's here?"

"The place is abandoned. It was a family owned place, but the neighborhood changed since they moved in forty or so years ago." Kate replied. "They kept getting robbed and someone shot one of their employees. The owners tried to sell, but no one wanted to buy. It's been sitting empty for close to four years now."

Espo spoke up. "Con Ed monitors electrical usage to see if anyone is stealing electricity but apparently they don't have a very big staff to do that. Someone finally got around to checking this place out and found something really nasty."

"What?" Rick asked, not sure he wanted to know.

"Come with me." Espo led them past the uniforms and through a mob of CSU types and people from the morgue. "Lanie's inside still."

They stopped at a large walk in freezer in the back of the store. "Can we come in?" Espo called.

Lanie answered. "Just a second. I'm right in front of the door with a gurney and some people. Give me two minutes."

Kate noticed Simone looking around and looking perturbed. She took her arm and led her away from the others. "Did you find something?"

"Yes. He's been here. I'm getting so that I can sense his personal….aura, or whatever quite easily."

"Coming out." Lanie called. The door opened and as the gurney with a corpse on it left, Rick took a step forward. Then took a quick step back. "Jesus Christ!"


	11. Chapter 11

Interrogation of a Vampire

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Castle, how do I not own you? Let me count the ways. Rating: M, in spots. Time: After season eight, before children.

The freezer contained eight bodies, all frozen solid. They had been piled in a corner without any consideration. Castle decided that serial killers weren't going to give any consideration to their victims.

"What can you tell us, Lanie?" Kate asked, looking away from the bodies.

"We've taken six bodies out and have eight left here. They appear to range in age from a teenager to a man who looks to be in his sixties. Five women and nine men. Reasonably well dressed, but not expensively so. Preliminary cause of death is exsanguination. They bled out through two holes in the neck, just like the other vics. The interesting thing is on the table over here." Lanie walked over and everyone thankfully followed her away from the pile of corpses. "The killer has been testing the blood for drugs and any illness. There's about two thirds of the amount of blood that's been bagged that you'd expect from this many people, so I'm assuming he didn't like what he found in some of the vics and tossed it." Lanie pointed to a frozen pool of blood in a corner.

"Why test the blood? It's not like they guy really is a vampire and this is going straight into his veins." Espo was looking directly at Simone when he said that.

Simone smiled sweetly at Espo. "But he ingests it. And we can't be sure he doesn't inject some of the blood anyway into his veins, can we? If you drank a pint of blood that was infected with the AIDS virus, what do you think of your chances of getting AIDS? And if you ingested blood from a junkie who'd gotten say, heroin cut with rat poison, do you think it might kill you?" Simone winked at Espo. "The man believes, Detective Esposito, but he's not stupid."

Espo made something that sounded like an agreement, but it was hard to tell.

The detectives went over the crime scene quickly to see if their killer had accidentally left his wallet behind, and of course he hadn't. Nor had he left anything else behind that might identify him. CSU took over and got busy photographing, video taping, taking finger prints, and blood samples, all of which would be found to belong to the victims.

As they left, Simone pulled Kate aside. "Dracula, the vampire who turned me, the one Flynn killed, he was infected a century and a half ago. It crippled him and made him weak. Perhaps that's why he's so careful with his latest victims. Perhaps he's sick."

"Then why not check his first victims? Ms. Welles, Ms. Leuthen, the rest. There was no indication that he tested their blood."

Simone shrugged. "Perhaps he got copies of their medical records? Or he took his testing gear with him?"

Kate shook her head. "We've checked. No one has made any requests for any of our vic's medical records and from what Lanie's said, it could take hours to do tests for every disease and blood contaminant known to medical science."

"Then he knew them. Knew they weren't ill or doing drugs."

"Is it possible there's a second vampire?"

Simone shook her head. "No. It's the same one."

"Could he have gotten infected recently? After his initial victims and before the ones in the freezer? That could explain a change of MO."

Simone thought and nodded. "Could be."

"Do you have any ideas?"

Simone thought and then shook her head. "No."

"Then back to old fashioned police work."

Once back at the precinct, they began identifying the victims. The youngest was Paula Connors, seventeen, from Connecticut. She'd had a fight with her parents and ran away from home. She'd been missing for less than a week when they found her body. The oldest was Mark Dwyer. Dwyer turned out to be an alias, one of many. He had been a con man for over a half century, making money off of people and then blowing it on high living. There was a single secretary for a TV station who'd recently quit her job to do stand up on open mic nights at local clubs. Another woman had moved to New York from Ohio three months ago and was living off of her savings while looking for a job. One was a private eye, a retired Chicago cop who'd decided to work in the Big Apple. He was a widower and was apparently estranged from his daughter. The daughter explained over the phone that her dad's workaholic ways had driven her mom to drink and she had been killed when she drove her car off the road. She declined to pay for a funeral.

And on and on and on.

"What do we know about these people?" Kate asked her detectives, Castle and both Simone and Flynn.

"They're all people who wouldn't be missed at once. Oh, sooner or later someone would have called in a missing person report…." Ryan began.

"There already was a missing person report on Connors." Espo said.

"A kid runs away from home after a fight with the parents. Not exactly going to have the NYPD out in force beating the bushes for the kid."

"So how did our perp know these people wouldn't be missed, a least not right away?" Simone asked, smiling to herself that she'd asked the question before anyone else.

"Somewhere all of our vics lives intersect. I'll bet they didn't know each other, or come into contact because they all went to the same gym, but they are all connected."

"But maybe not all to each other. "Castle said quickly. "Our would-be standup comic could have met our woman from a small town in Ohio and gotten to talking about how tough things were. The PI could have been looking for our con man. Did the parents of Paula Connors hire a PI to find her?"

Ryan grabbed a file. "Not according to the interview. Just the police. But he could have been looking for another runaway and run into Paula. Asked her for help."

"Ryan, Espo, you two go to the PI's office. What's his name again?"

"Fregosi. Jimmy Fregosi. We're on it."

A half an hour later, Kate got a call from Espo.

"What did find?"

"Fregosi's the connection, we're pretty sure. By the time we got here, the place was tossed. I'm betting that he used Fregosi to track down his vics, killed Fregosi along with the other vics to cover everything up. There are a bunch of files missing, cameras, and the hard drive on the guy's computer was taken."

Kate swore. "Check his home address. See if we can find a girlfriend, his drinking buddies, someone he might have talked to about his cases."

Alma Johns was rail thin, in her early forties and had been Fregosi's live in girlfriend. She spoke to Ryan as Espo searched the apartment.

"No, Officer Ryan, Jimmy ever brought any work home. That was a firm rule with him. He said his office building had a security guard 24/7, surveillance cameras and his office had an alarm and one of those little video cameras in a phony book covering the door. Did that show anything?"

Ryan shook his head. "We found a jimmied service door that would give someone access to the stairwell. There were no keys found with Mr. Fergosi, so the perp probably let himself in and turned off the alarm, and there was no video camera in a book. We checked them all. Did Mr. Fregosi tell anyone about his security measures?"

"Well, just his clients. He wanted them to know that whatever he had was safe."

"Did he ever talk about his cases to you, or anyone else?"

She shook her head. "Never. That was another of his rules. Of course, he might have talked to Phil. They compared notes sometimes, bounced ideas off each other."

"Phil?"

"Phil Mendes. He's a retired New York cop, and also a PI. I'll get you his business card."

"Bro, she's right. There isn't anything here that'll help."

"This might." Ms. Johns said, holding out a business card.

"All the way across town, too." Ryan muttered as Espo thanked Ms. Johns.

Phil Mendes was happy to talk to the detectives. Too happy. He seemed to want to go over every funny or odd thing that had happened while on the force and as a PI. It took a while for the two detectives to get him to talk about Jimmy Fregosi.

"Jeez. It's a shame Jimmy got killed like that. Bled out you say?"

Ryan and Espo nodded. They were trying to keep details of the murders out of the public eye as best they could. Which wasn't going very well.

"Yeah, he was from Chicago, you know. We used to argue about New York and Chicago pizza. As for me, if I wanted a loaf of bread with toppings on it, that's what I'd ask for. That's not pizza."

"Sir, can you tell us about Mr. Fregosi and any cases he might have been working on?"

"He mostly worked for insurance companies. Not on big jobs. They have their own in-house investigators, or they use the big, national investigations companies. But sometimes for small jobs, ten, twenty thousand bucks, they call on someone like Phil. There was a guy who grabbed fifty thousand out of the boss's safe when the boss went to the can and spent it all living large in Miami. By the time the Miami cops got him, the money was all gone on cocaine and hookers. But his boss thought the guy had stolen before and had some cash stashed away. Maybe enough to cover the deductible."

"When was this?" Ryan asked.

"Four, five years ago."

"Can you tell me anything about his current cases?"

Mendes shook his head. "I do security work for small companies. You know, tell them what kind of alarms to get. That's sort of thing. Jimmy worked for insurance companies. We haven't talked about a case in six months or so. He wanted to know if I knew a good forensic accountant."

"Can you tell me what insurance companies Mr. Fregosi worked for in the past?"

"I'll write you a list."

Once back at the precinct, Ryan and Esposito briefed Kate with Rick and Simone sitting in her office. Espo noticed the sun was just disappearing under the horizon and almost said something. But, he decided Kate didn't need the grief she might get from One PP if some politician's pal was insulted.

"Okay, you two did a good job. See if you can get anything from the insurance companies tomorrow. Okay?"

The two detectives nodded and headed for their homes.

"I knew it." Simone said as soon as the two detectives were gone. "The PI was tracking down those people and when Fregosi had done his job, he was killed."

"I agree. But we're at a dead end."

Simone looked at Kate and nodded. "Bummer."

The insurance companies were a bust, but it took a long time to plow through all the layers of bureaucracy to find someone who'd talk to them and longer to get any information. Which was all negative, except for one small bit of information.

"Fregosi also did work for lawyers." Ryan told Beckett. "Sort of as an add-on to his work for the insurance companies. Say your insurance company denied your claim, for…whatever. You'd still want to go after the guy who caused your loss. Find out if he has any money anywhere."

"And did we get any names of these lawyers?" Kate asked hopefully.

"We got one. A guy named Holtz over in Brooklyn. We called him, he's never heard of any of our vics. But, we're running phones and financials on him to double check."

LT stuck his head in the door. "Got another one. The vampire killer again."

"There is no vampire killer, bro, 'cause there is no vampire."

LT just shrugged.

"Let me grab Castle and call Flynn and Simone." Kate said checking her watch. "It's dark now."

"Do we have to?" Espo asked, a pained look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Since she looks so much like you, everyone noticed her. And I mean everyone. And once they found out she thinks she's a vampire…." Espo stopped and looked embarrassed.

"What?" Kate prompted.

"I've been getting cloves of garlic and crosses left on my desk. Some dickhead put garlic in my desk when I was out for the whole day. The thing stinks now."

She suppressed as smile. "I can appreciate your point of view. But Simone is here because One PP wants her here. And she caught a killer."

Espo was sure Kate and Rick had more to do with the collar of the copycat killer than Simone, but he kept his mouth closed.

It was well after dark when Simone arrived at the crime scene. Kate, Rick and the rest of the crime scene team had already been there for almost an hour.

"What did I miss?"

"A lot of standing around while I did all the work." Lanie promptly answered.

Kate smiled and nodded at Lanie. "Perhaps that was a little too brief?" She turned to Simone. "Flynn is still working?"

"The poor boy. He works so hard, I can hardly get him up any more." She said with a devilish smile.

Rick managed to keep a straight face, but everyone else either laughed or looked embarrassed.

"I'm sure you'll manage." Kate said. "The vic is Annabelle Sims, age twenty four, COD is the same as the others. A nice clean puncture wound to the throat, two holes and she died of loss of blood. Sims was a personal trainer at a local upscale gym. Lived alone here. We'll be pulling her phones and financials and asking the gym for a list of their clients to see if anyone matches any of our suspects. One difference, she does have bruises on her upper arms, like the killer held her very tightly while he killed her."

"One thing." Espo interrupted. "If he was holding her arms, how did he get whatever kind of needle he was using into her neck?"

"Easy, if he was a vampire." Simone said, smiling at Espo. "But since you don't believe in vampires, perhaps you'll find he used a tranquilizer and held her until she fell over. Or perhaps Dr. Parish will find other bruises on her body showing he knocked her out. Or perhaps he found her coming home drunk or stoned and needed to guide her to her place forcefully. She may have had some odd sexual requests that…."

"We can wait until we have all the information before speculating, okay?" Lanie said.

"Of course, Dr. Parish. I apologize."

"Oh, you have a long way to go before your speculations get that bad. In fact, you'd need to become Richard Castle."

"That would upset my wife immensely." Castle muttered.

"Anything found in the apartment?" Kate said, changing the subject and addressing the CSU and uniforms who had done the search.

"She's got enough health food and vitamins to start her own store." Said one uniform.

"And she's got some exercise equipment in her bedroom."

Espo opened his mouth to crack a joke, but saw Kate looking at him.

Kate looked around. "Okay, finish up here and then everyone go home and be ready to start again fresh tomorrow."

It took only a few minutes to finish up, but Simone stayed behind when everyone else left. "May I speak to you?"

"Of course, Simone."

She looked around to make sure no one was near enough to hear, but everyone but Rick and Kate were gone. "It was him. The same killer as before. I caught his…aura. I don't know how else to describe it. And it's a male vampire. Actually, most vampires are male. So many of them are so very old, they have ideas from the Middle Ages, or so. They believe that women are weak and stupid and not deserving of being vampires. Only the powerful, and by that, they mean men, should be vampires."

"Why were you turned then?" Rick asked.

Simone shrugged. "I don't know. Vampires enjoy sex, of course, but someone rich and powerful can get anything that he needs easily enough. Dracula, the one who turned me was a sadist, even among vampires. Perhaps he wanted to take what I had from me and give me something I never wanted. I don't know. I wondered for a century or two about that, but I'll never know."

"Is there anything about our vic that stands out? Anything that might connect her to a vampire or any of the other vics?"

"I looked around, but nothing I saw provided any clues. I'm sorry."

Kate smiled at her. "Don't be sorry. You're helping us and you caught one killer we might never have caught."

"Detective Esposito doesn't think that I'm a help."

"Espo hasn't seen you in action." Rick said, then laughed.

"What's so funny?" Kate asked.

"I was just thinking about how Espo would react if he could see Simone in action. She could hogtie our very physical ex-Green Beret supercop in no time at all."

"Don't even joke about that. If the world ever found out that vampires are real, or that I'm a vampire, I'd spend my days in some government laboratory as a specimen, assuming they kept me alive."

Kate reached out and took her hand. "Simone, whatever happens here, that's never going to happen to you. I promise."

"Me, too." Rick added. "I know guys. Guys who can help."

"Thank you." Simone checked her watch. "I need to get back to Flynn."

"To keep him up?" Rick asked innocently.

Simone just laughed and left.


	12. Chapter 12

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Twelve

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: As Yoda said, "All of this, you do not own.". Rating: M, in places. Time: After Season eight, before children.

The next three days were boring and ultimately fruitless basic police work. Annabelle Sims phones and financials came in and her computer was checked thoroughly by Tory Ellis.

Simms seemed to have called no one but the fitness center she worked at, a series of health food restaurants to make reservations and calls to other fitness instructors to discuss new equipment, food supplements or training regimens. According to her friends she had occasional sex with them and had no desire to have any sort of personal relationship beyond that.

"Do you have any idea how many times Ms. Simms had sex in the past few months, Ms. Walker?" Espo asked, admiring the very trim blonde seated across from him and Ryan.

"Sure. Every two weeks. Usually on Saturday, but occasionally on Fridays. She was as regular as clockwork in everything she did. The last time we had sex was three weeks ago, and last week was Mark."

"She had sex with the same people in rotation?" Ryan asked.

Gretchen Walker laughed. "I said she was regular as clockwork. There was me, then Mike Bryan, then Antonia Piscetti, then Angela Bowers, then Ted Boehner, then Pete Chesnik, then Mark Tyler and then back to me."

"Did she ever have sex with anyone else?" Ryan asked, fascinated in spite of himself. "With her customers, perhaps?"

She shook her head sharply. "She wouldn't screw anyone that wasn't in perfect physical shape, and most of her customers were wealthy types who wanted to stay in shape, but who couldn't spend the time away from their careers to get in the kind of shape she demanded." Gretchen smiled at Esposito. "Tell you what, big boy. Come in and let me help you get rid of those love handles and maybe we can have some fun."

Javi smiled and said he'd think about it, but was upset after she left. "Love handles? What is that woman talking about? Okay, maybe I'm not in the same shape I was in when I left Special Forces, but love handles? Come on."

Ryan just nodded and smiled.

Kate gathered her lead detectives, Rick and Simone a few evenings after that for briefing and planning session.

"We have nothing to connect Annabelle Simms to any other victims or to anyone at all involved in this case?" She asked.

Ryan and Esposito exchanged looks before Kevin replied. "Nothing. It looks like Simms was wholly dedicated to making her body as perfect as she could, inside and out. She spent her days and nights working out and as for what she ate, I wouldn't last a week on it. But I guess it was healthy."

"Damn." Kate muttered.

"It could be a complete crime of opportunity." Simone spoke up. "From her clothing Ms. Simms liked to advertise how buff and cut she was. She wore short, tight shorts and midriff baring halters. Our perp could have seen her and decided that anyone so healthy looking must have good blood. No drugs and no diseases."

Espo chuckled.

Simone just smiled. "It _is_ a theory that fits our facts."

"Which is more than we have otherwise. Tomorrow go back to her friends and co-workers and ask if they've seen anyone hanging around. And scrub traffic cams and security cams around her work and apartment."

Ryan and Esposito nodded and headed home. As Simone rose to leave, Rick asked her a question.

"Would a vampire prefer blood from someone who was in especially good physical condition?"

She giggled. "No, a vampire would be just as happy with a three hundred pound couch potato as with Ms. Simms or someone like her." Simone suddenly looked serious. "But a vampire might enjoy conquering someone in good shape who could fight back, even though he would easily defeat her."

"We can't very well alert all buff women in New York to look out for tall, dark and fanged men, can we?" Rick asked.

"No, we can't." Both Simone and Kate said.

Simone went back to The Library as quickly as she could. She hadn't been kidding about wanting to get Flynn up and keep him up.

Flynn Carsen was deep in an eighth century Byzantine manuscript when a silk blouse landed on the vellum page in front of him. "Simone?" He said, turning in his chair.

"Yes?" Simone said, reaching behind her to undo her skirt. "Oh, can you please help me, Flynn? I don't seem to be able to get my dress down."

Flynn smiled and motioned for her to turn around. He pulled gently on her skirt and it fell easily to the floor. He moved his hands to the cheeks of her ass and gave her a squeeze.

"Oh! You do remember how to do that." She teased.

"I couldn't possibly forget." He watched her reach behind her back and undo her bra.

"Can you help me with my panties?" She said in a low, sexy voice.

"Certainly. Just what did you want to do with them?"

She giggled. "Take them off, silly."

"You want me to take them off silly? You want me to tell jokes while I do it, or take them off in a silly manner?"

Simone turned, hooked her thumbs in her panties and pushed them down until they fell to the floor. "Take me to bed, Flynn. It's been too long."

Flynn took her hand and led her towards their makeshift bedroom and the bed that had once been Marie Antoinette's. Once on the bed he began stroking her nipples and kissing her throat.

"Not that." She said, grasping his erection. "I need you inside of me. Right now. Please."

"Are you sure you're ready?" He asked, not wanting to hurt her.

She laughed out loud. "I've been thinking about this since I left the precinct. I am so ready."

He slid over on top of her and when he entered her, he found she was very wet indeed. "I have been neglecting you."

He felt her strong vampire arms wrap around him and pull him closer. "Don't talk. Just do it. Do me. Harder, faster deeper."

Flynn began pumping in and out of her as fast and as hard as he could. She climaxed in minutes, telling him that she had been very ready. He slowed down and began to kiss Simone, running his tongue past her lips and meeting her own tongue which slid over and around his as his tongue moved over hers. He ran his hands over her boobs and her ass, stroking them and whispering in her ear how beautiful and sexy she was. As she smiled, he could feel her pushing up off of the bed and then moaning in his ear. "Yes. Again. It's so good, Flynn." Then she stopped and smiled. "But you made me come twice and you haven't come yet? What a bad girl I am."

"You're the best bad girl I know and I'm just…."He stiffened and thrust as far into her as he could. "There." He collapsed on top of her. Then he rolled off of her and pulled her into a close embrace.

Minutes passed. Simone spoke. "Do you think about her?"

"Her who?"

"Captain Castle. The one who looks like me. Do you think about her?"

"Not the way I think about you. And she doesn't look exactly like you. She's like an older you."

"But you think about her."

"We work with these people. I think about Captain Castle, her husband, her two detectives, the big uniform, LT, the IT specialist, Tory, the ME. At one time or another, I think about them all. Don't you?"

Simone didn't answer. Finally she spoke. "She's not like an older me. I'm four hundred years old, remember? I'll never look like an "older me" as you called her."

Flynn could tell that Simone was starting to cry. "What's wrong, honey?" He whispered.

"I did this more than a hundred years ago. I let myself fall in love with a human. But he grew old and I remained twenty five. I spent money on doctors, but they could do nothing. Neither can any of your doctors. No matter what they do, you will die and I won't. And my heart will be broken. I know what's going to happen and I can't avoid it, even though I know I should just leave you. I love you too much already, Flynn. If I left you, my heart would still break."

Flynn stroked her hair and nuzzled her neck. "It'll be okay, Simone. We have a chance, you know. We can…."

"No!" She said, stiffening. "Never. I will never turn you as I was turned. I couldn't give you the kind of non-life that I've had to live."

"That's not what I meant. This is different. We have the Judas Chalice. We already know it's a powerful….Well, a powerful something. It healed Dracula and it changed you. And we have the full resources of The Library at our disposal." He kissed her cheek. "In fact, just before I was so pleasantly interrupted, I was reading something from eighth century CE Byzantium about the Chalice. Okay, it probably wasn't an instruction manual, but it's given me a few ideas where to look."

"Do you think the Chalice can help us? Help me?"

"It's already helped. It kept you alive."

Simone snuggled next to the man she loved. "I pray that is so."

Kate slipped into bed with her husband. He put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "You okay?" He asked. "You seemed a bit …distracted tonight."

"Do you ever think about Simone?"

Castle realized that this was a question not unlike, "Do these pants make my butt look big?" It needed careful thought before answering. "Of course I do. She's part of our team. I think about her like I think of everyone else."

"But she's like me."

Castle shook his head. "She's a four hundred year old vampire. Admittedly, she's not at all what I thought a vampire would be like. She's a nice person. A friendly, law abiding, concerned citizen vampire. And she's in love with a really great guy."

"She looks a lot like me when I was twenty five, except we did our hair differently. But she's so different. She's young, happy, and in love. When I was twenty five, it was one of the worst times of my life. I'd become a cop to solve my mom's murder, and after three years of trying and being able to recite her case file backwards and forwards, and after a year of therapy, I had to give up. And I was miserable. I was a failure and I deserved to be miserable for being unable to solve her murder."

"I wish I had known you then. Earlier even."

Kate laughed. "Too much earlier and Royce would have run you off. He wouldn't have let some crazy, rich playboy get his hands on me."

"That was in my post Meredith Mr. Mom phase. I was busy raising Alexis and trying to be mom and dad at once. And maybe with some older brother and crazy uncle thrown in as well."

"Crazy uncle I could easily see. But you would have just made me mad with your constant optimism and happiness. I was wallowing in my misery and I was sure I deserved even more misery."

Rick thought for a moment. "I'm not sure Simone is that happy. She tried to kill herself in Louisiana by letting herself get exposed to the sun. That's not something a happy person does."

Kate nodded slowly. "And now she's in love. And she's helping us find a killer. Maybe there are parts of being a vampire that bother her, just like the paperwork and politics of being a captain bother me. But, by and large, we're both happy."

"And I intend to spend the rest of my life keeping you happy."

She slid her hand under his tee shirt. "You can start any time."

"I thought you'd never ask." Rick slid her sleep shirt over her head and began kissing the very tops of her breasts. When Kate tried to push his head down so he could take her boob into his mouth, he resisted, teasing her.

"Rick, you'd just better…"

Before she could finish the sentence, he had taken as much of her right boob into his mouth as he could managed and was busy gently slicking her left nipple with his thumb. After a bit her cupped her boob and flattened it against her chest, then he switched boobs, but just sucking hard on her left nipple while gently rolling the other breast over her chest.

"Lower." She moaned.

"I'm here to make you happy." He began kissing his way down her body, being careful to gently kiss the scar between her boobs and the scars from her shootings in the Loksat affair. Then he kissed her stomach and worked his way to her belly button. "Raise your ass up." He asked, and pulled her shorts down as she did so. He ran his tongue over her clit and felt her hand on his head.

"No, we'll do this together. Lie on your back."

He did as he was told. Kate moved to lie on top of him, with her head now between his legs. She took his erection into her mouth as he ran his tongue over her slit. He used one hand to stroke her clit and pushed two fingers and then three inside of her, all while running his tongue up and down.

Kate pushed her head down on him, until his pubic hair was tickling her nose and he was all the way inside her mouth.

With both of them going as hard and as fast as they could, it took only a few more minutes for their mutual climax.

"I don't know, but I'll bet Flynn and Simone aren't as happy as we are right now."

Kate just giggled.

Kate and Rick were trying to find some connection to something the next day at the precinct.

"If there's a connection, we're not seeing it." Kate muttered.

"Or our perp took what we need to connect things."

"Got a minute, Captain?" Said a voice from the doorway. Detective Olivares stuck his head in the door.

"Sure, come in and sit down, Pablo. What can I do for you?"

"More like what I can do for you. I know you've been busy with this crazy vampire killer thing, but there was a robbery at a blood bank last night."

"What was stolen?"

"Blood. Just blood."

"Grab your coat, Castle."

Mr. Horowitz was unhappy that his blood bank had been broken into. "Who steals blood? What kind of a kook would steal blood? Sure, some of it's valuable, but you can't stand on a street corner in Spanish Harlem and sell blood. Hospitals and doctors buy blood and they want to know it comes from a reputable supplier. Who'd buy blood from some stranger?"

"Mr. Horowitz, if we could continue?" Kate said, trying to calm him down.

"Sorry. But, who steals blood?"

"You don't have much in the way of security, I notice. A very rudimentary alarm system and no security cameras."

Horowitz nodded. "Never needed any. We had a break in five years ago. Kids. Thought it would be cool to throw blood on each other. They left fingerprints all over. You caught them like that. But what a mess!"

"Sir," Kate began, "if we could…?"

He nodded. "We're a storage facility for several clinics. They draw the blood, refrigerate it and send it by messenger to here. We store it until a hospital needs it. It's cheaper and more flexible for the hospitals. One month they need fifty units of blood, the next month they need three hundred. But who steals blood?"

"Do any of your neighbors have security cameras?" Castle asked.

"Widders. The pawn broker. Afraid someone's going to steal his ill gotten gains."

"Ill gotten gains?"

Horowitz nodded and lowered his voice. "I see some pretty shifty characters going in there. I've seen the same guy carrying in a really big screen TV three times in the last month. I can understand guy selling one big screen TV, but who has three?"

Rick grinned. "We should go talk to Mr. Widders. I bet he'll be very cooperative."

"I know he will."

Rick and Kate went outside so Kate could talk on the phone. "Rick, CSU found nothing at the blood bank, but Robbery says that the pawn shop does some fencing, but they've never been caught at it. And I can see two security cameras from here."

Mr. Widders was all smiles and helpfulness. He knew better than to antagonize the police. "Sure, take all my video you want, Captain. I'm always glad to help the NYPD. I'll just bet you'll see some low life casing the joint. But who steals blood?"

"Good question." Castle said seriously. "Who steals blood?"

Mr. Widders nodded wisely. "Exactly."

Hours later, almost a month's worth of security footage had been scrubbed with no results. They did have some work for robbery to do after seeing some of the people entering the pawnshop, but nothing that related to their case. Kate lowered her voice so that only Rick would hear. "If this guy is capable of jumping from one place to another like Simone can, he could have just jumped in from a block away and we'd never see him. There isn't that much video surveillance around the blood bank."

"Maybe Simone can help."

Once the sun had set, Simon and Flynn arrived and went to Kate's office.

"We need some advice." Castle began. "Firstly, as you know, you can't get a blood transfusion from a donor who doesn't have your type of blood. Is there any problem like that with vampires? And blood you can't handle?"

Simone shook her head. "For a lot of reasons, mostly personal preference, vampires prefer human blood, but they are capable of living on animal blood. As you might imagine, there's not a lot of scientific research into the feeding habits of vampires. Human researchers would never survive to publish their research and most vampires are too self-centered to care. They see themselves as the very top of the food chain and naturally want to feed on what's one step lower from them." All three noticed that Simone suddenly turned away and looked away from them.

"Simone? Honey, are you okay?"

Simone nodded, but said nothing.

Flynn started to get up, but Simone quickly stood and looked out through the glass partition in Kate's office and into the nearly empty bullpen.

"Simone, please talk to us." Kate said softly. "I used to be the absolute queen of telling people that I was fine when I was anything but. But I found someone to love me and he was able to help me and make me understand that having someone to help was a strength and not a weakness. You have someone like that now. If you want to talk to Flynn alone, Rick and I can step out of the office."

Simone wiped a tear away and turned to face the three and then sat down. "Every once in a while I have to remember what a horrible race I belong to. A bunch of murderous sociopaths who contribute nothing to society but misery. As much as I've tried to be a good person, I know what I'm like deep down inside."

"What you're like is what the rest of us here in this room are and the rest of the people in the precinct." Kate said. "You are a good person, and if you're not a good person every single second of every day, you're still hugely better than the monster you're helping us catch. You are a good person, Simone. A very, very good person. One I'm proud to call my friend and as a detective, you're as good as any cop I've ever known."

Simone smiled. "Thank you. It's very hard to be alone for centuries and then when you find someone…."She stopped and shook her head. "You find someone and you realize that no matter what, you'll lose them and that soul crushing loneliness will come back."

Flynn put his arms around her. "Simone, I love you and I will always love you and I will do my best to make every day we have the best I can manage."

Rick and Kate gave to two lovers a minute or so together.

"Simone, can you tell us anything about the break in at the blood bank?" Kate asked.


	13. Chapter 13

Interrogation of a Vampire

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: Aye, there's the rub. I don't own Castle. Rating: M, here and there. Time: After Season Eight and before children.

Simone had been unable to help, aside from being able to state that she had felt the aura of the other vampire at the scene.

"We can't exactly use that in court." Kate said, unhappily. She glanced at Simone. "Not that we'll ever ask you to testify in court or do anything else publicly."

"No, that's all right. As long as no one finds out what I really am, I can testify as Ms. Simone Renoir a nice café singer from the Big Easy."

"And we already know what you are Simone. You're our friend and so much more."

Simone blushed slightly. "I don't think I've ever had so many human friends who know I'm a vampire."

"Why do you consider yourself as being not human?" Rick asked.

"I'm not. I'm a vampire."

"But you were born a human. You've been changed, but you've retained your basic humanity. You're more of a human than many of the so called humans we deal with every day. Think about it, Simone. You're just different from any of us. It doesn't make you less than human."

"Thank you. I will consider that." Simone smiled shyly when she replied.

They were about to leave when Espo came in. "Bad news. We got another one."

"Who and where?" Kate asked,

"Francis Warren in Central Park West."

Rick suddenly turned to Espo. "Wait. You mean _the_ Francis Warren? As in "War In the Air" Warren?"

"The same."

"Who's Francis Warren?" Both Kate and Simone asked at once.

"He's a retired pro basketball player. He's got three championship rings, seven Most Valuable Player awards and I don't know how many All Star game appearances."

"Fourteen." Espo supplied. "And he should have gotten another two. How he could have been missed is unbelievable. Makes you think that…" Espo caught Kate looking at him. "Right. I'll grab Ryan and head over there."

"I'll be there with Castle and…"She glanced at Simone who nodded. "And Simone."

Warren had lived in a brownstone fronting Central Park, not that far, in fact, from the home that Simone and Flynn owned. However, because of the danger, Flynn had convinced Simone to remain in The Library where The Library's many defenses could protect her. He was sure even a vampire couldn't get past the defenses. Simone wasn't so sure.

"Lanie." Kate said smiling at her friend. "Do we have a cause of death?"

"As always, I won't give you a formal finding until I've had him on the table back at the morgue, but I'll be amazed if it isn't exsanguination from twin puncture wounds entering the jugular and extracting the blood. Same as the others."

"There's some signs of a struggle but not much." Ryan said.

Kate looked down at the body. "Just how big was he anyway?"

"Six feet, eight inches and he weighed about two hundred and thirty pounds in his playing days." Espo replied at once.

"How long has he been retired?"

"Ten years, but he kept himself in shape. I saw him play in a charity game last year. A bunch of retired NBA players took on a team of college players. He dominated."

Kate knelt beside the body. "So, here's someone who should have been able to really fight back, but only struggled a little bit. Maybe he knew his killer?" Kate looked up at the ME. "Lanie, be sure to check to see if he had anything in his system that might have slowed him down." She looked to Simone and saw her shake her head ever so slowly. Simone didn't think a vampire would have any trouble subduing a man of this size.

She stood up. "Okay, have CSU sweep the place, check for security cams. I'm sure this neighborhood will have plenty. Ryan and Espo, get his phone and computer and scrub them. Get busy on phones and financials. We'll see what we have first thing tomorrow."

Simone walked out with Rick and Kate and stopped once outside the building.

"It's him. I sensed his aura again. And, yes, I'm positive it's a man. I can't tell you how I know, I just do. And he's a very powerful vampire."

Kate nodded. "Okay. See you tomorrow night?"

"Sure." Simone started walking away.

"Are you going to walk back to The Library?"

"Yes. It's such a nice night and I haven't been out just walking around for so long."

"I'm going to have an officer drive you back." Kate called over a uniform.

"That's really not necessary."

"Just call it a hunch. Please?" Kate gestured to the patrol car. Simone got in and was driven away.

On a nearby rooftop, a shadowy figure cursed softly.

By the time she got to The Library, Simone had a hunch, too. _Someone is following me. Someone and I know who he is._ She ran from the police car to the safety of The Library and ran to Flynn where Flynn had been working.

"Flynn?" He wasn't at his desk and a quick check showed he wasn't in the bed they shared. "Flynn?" She called, starting to worry. "FLYNN!" She yelled.

"He's in the basement. The fourth basement, to be exact."

Simone turned to find Judson standing behind her. She hadn't heard him approach and her senses were very highly attuned to her surroundings. "I didn't hear you."

Judson frowned. "Perhaps I should wear a bell?"

She smiled. "Hardly necessary for the head of The Library. The fourth basement, you say? How do I get there?"

"I can take you. The elevator is just over here in the Roman Republic section." Judson looked at her as they walked. "You seem a bit upset. Is everything all right with you and Flynn? I know he's been here and you've been with the police…."

"No, that's not it. I think the vampire may have followed me. I didn't see or hear anything, but I could sense his aura just at the limit of my senses. I may be just being silly…"

"No." Judson said quickly." A vampire's senses can definitely be trusted. And in this case, we should be especially careful." Judson made a gesture with his right hand and an enormous bird came up to them. It was taller by several feet than Simone and much heavier. It didn't appear to have any wings, though. Judson took out a pen and a notebook, wrote something down and handed it to the bird who then went off.

"What was that?"

Judson looked mildly surprised at the question. "A moa. One of species of flightless birds that were hunted to extinction in New Zealand about six hundred and fifty years ago. We have a breeding program for them and they make excellent messengers. He'll have The Library's defenses set to be especially watchful for vampires."

"If they're extinct…."

"We are The Library, Simone."

Once in the elevator they seemed to go a lot deeper than just four floors. "Mr. Judson, you said that a vampire's senses could definitely be trusted. So, you have known vampires? Many vampires?"

Judson frowned slightly. "Many vampires? No, there aren't many vampires to know. They're not exactly common you know."

"But you have known a vampire. Quite well, I'd imagine."

Judson smiled slightly and looked off into the distance.

"A lady vampire, I'd guess?" Simone said.

He cleared his throat just as the elevator doors opened. "I have known a vampire. While the interests of most vampires and the interests of The Library rarely coincide, sometimes they do." He sighed. "For a bit anyway."

Judson led Simone through stacks of books and scrolls.

"Can I ask you something, Mr. Judson?"

"Of course. Of course."

"Am I a human or a vampire?"

"Why, both, of course."

"Both?" Simone didn't understand.

"You were born a human and if we were to check your DNA, we'd find that you are no different from any other human on the planet. From the standpoint of DNA, of course."

"But I'm not like other humans. I don't age. I live in the night. Well, not always now. I drink blood. So many things."

Judson shrugged. "There are humans who can play a dozen chess games at the same time and do it while blindfolded. Consider people like Einstein or Hawking. Da Vinci, or Joe DiMaggio." He could see that he wasn't convincing Simone. "Look at it this way. A long time ago you were infected with a disease of sorts. Not the best analogy, but close enough. Now you still have that disease, but it doesn't change the fact that you are a human."

"Could I be cured of being a vampire?"

Judson thought for a second. "I honestly don't know. I've never heard of a vampire who wanted to be cured. Most of them seem to like it."

"But it's possible?"

"And even if it isn't, you're still a human and always will be."

Simone frowned. "Yes. Always. Forever."

Suddenly, they turned a corner and there was Flynn, sitting at a desk, reading an ancient hand written book.

"Flynn." Simone rushed to her lover and kissed him. When she broke the kiss, she saw that Judson was gone.

"I've got some good news." Flynn said happily.

"And I have bad news." Simone replied. "I'm pretty sure that the killer vampire is following me."

"Shit. We'll have to upgrade The Library's defenses to deal with that. I can go look in the eighth sub-basement and…."

"Mr. Judson already did that. I think. He wrote some sort of message and gave it to a moa. That's a large bird that's supposedly extinct, but…"

"The Library has a breeding program for them." Flynn finished for her. "Well, the moas are great messengers and Judson certainly knows what he's doing." Flynn frowned slightly and pulled out his phone. "Let me check something."

"Your phone has an app to check for vampires?"

Flynn looked up. "No, it's an app that shows The Library's defenses." He looked back down at his phone. "Hmm. Now I never would have thought of doing that. And the best part is that The Library will recognize you and not bother you. But any other vampire and watch out." Flynn looked back at her. "You don't know any friendly vampires here, do you? It would be embarrassing if a friend should show up and…"

"Flynn, I don't know any other vampires. Before Dracula, the last one I met was in New Orleans when I visited the pirate Jean Lafitte. He was a truly obnoxious young man who thought that every woman, even a vampire woman, was his for the asking. I defeated him, but he ran away. I should have killed him I suppose, but I've always been too soft hearted."

Flynn kissed her. "As it happens, I love that soft heart. And I have good news. I found a document from an eighth century Irish monastery at Lindisfarne. Ireland was a great center of Christian learning in what we call the Dark Ages. Irish priests were largely responsible for Christianizing Scotland and parts of England. They had quite a presence in continental Europe as well. The Frankish kingdom of Charlemagne was…."

"Flynn, was the good news that you could give me a history lesson?" Simone asked softly.

"Of course not. Sorry. I found one page that was apparently included in the book by accident that discusses the Judas Chalice. The monks may have even had the chalice for a while. Anyway, it does provide instructions on how to strengthen a vampire, although they don't refer to them as vampires. They're called minions of Satan. They saw everything through the lens of religion in those days. What we see as…"

"Flynn? What do we need to do?"

"Oh, sorry. Again. We need to mix my blood and yours in the chalice and repeat something in Latin. I've got a rough translation here." Flynn grabbed his laptop. "I think from the grammatical structure that this was translated from Latin into Irish Gaelic and then back into Latin. So the translation into English may be a bit rough, but I'll be saying it in Latin so it won't matter."

"What does it say?"

"Dear Lord Jesus and our holy mother Mary, we beseech you to return the minions of Satan to the…"Flynn stopped. "This is one I'm having trouble with, I'm positive the word is the Latin for "auroch"."

"Auroch?" Simone frowned.

"A type of wild European bull extinct since the 1600s."

"Flynn, that makes no sense."

"It could be a simile. Like referring to a man as a real bull of a man."

"Well, if you're saying it in the original Latin, I suppose it won't matter what the English translation is like."

"It goes on, "And bring to sun light". Um that could be sunshine. "And bring to sun light the day of nights. And resume" and the last word I just can't get. It looks like someone tried to erase it and write over it and nothing in The Library will show me the original word. Since this is a hand written parchment document, mistakes like that aren't that uncommon. I mean, imagine you're a monk sitting there copying a manuscript and it's cold and raining, which it does a lot in Ireland and your stomach is growling and you make a mistake. So, you…"

"The problem with the word isn't going to make me go poof, is it?" Simone asked.

"No. Well, I don't know. Even The Library has very little experience with vampires. If you'd rather not take the chance, I understand. I'd hate to lose the woman I love."

She smiled and kissed him lightly. "I'd hate for you to lose the woman you love as well. And I'd hate to lose you. But, we should do this."

Flynn took out a pin and put the Chalice on the table between him and Simone. "We shouldn't need too much blood. Just a drop or two. Ready?"

Simone nodded and Flynn pricked her finger. Two drops of blood fell into the chalice, followed by two drops of his blood. Flynn read from his laptop as slowly and clearly as he could. Nothing happened.

"Do you feel anything?"

Simone shook her head. "I feel the same."

"Could you try jumping, you know, like you do."

Simone walked out into the hallway and concentrated on moving as fast and as far as she could from one place to another. Instantly, she was at the far end of the hall. She walked back, counting her paces. "No, about the same."

"Maybe I wasn't pronouncing the words correctly. No one knows what Roman Latin sounded like. The spell might need to be spoken in an upper class Roman accent and I sound like a Roman redneck." Flynn scratched his head. "Shall we try again? Two more drops of blood?"

A second and a third try was no more successful.

"How do you feel? Hungry at all? Could you use some blood?"

"Maybe. But I don't want to go all the way up to your office and get blood out of the refrigerator there."

"No problem. I had a mini-fridge set up down here with some blood for you." Flynn opened the refrigerator and handed Simone a bag of blood.

"Could you turn around and not watch me feed?" She asked softly.

Instead, Flynn put his arms around her. "Simone Renoir, I love you. You may have become a vampire, but you are one of the finest humans I've ever known. I hope you're not ashamed of what you are, because I know exactly what you are and you have nothing to be ashamed of. Okay?"

She nodded and drained the blood bag. "Thank you."

Once the ceremony was over, Simone tried as hard as she could to move as far as she could. To her surprise, she found herself in a darkened tunnel. It took no more than a few seconds to realize she was not alone. "Stop!" She yelled. She saw a flicker of movement and jumped towards it. Nothing was there, but she saw another flicker of movement and began to jump, then stopped. She jumped back to where she had originally been in the tunnel and then jumped back to Flynn.

"Are you okay? I was terrified when you disappeared."

"I'm fine, but the killer vampire was here. I jumped into some kind of tunnel and he was there. I recognized the aura at once."

Flynn took her hand. "We need to find Judson at once."

Five minutes later they were in Judson's office explaining what had happened.

"You jumped out of The Library itself and into an old tunnel that's been closed off for decades. Only a vampire could get in there without earth moving equipment. But the defenses should have picked up any vampire that close." Judson thought for a moment. "I didn't want to have to do this, but I think I have no choice." He rapped smartly on his desk seven times.

"Wot the bluidy hell da ye want now, ye bluidy Sassenach?" The speaker was a small, red bearded man dressed in green, with a green billycock hat perched jauntily on his head. In his mouth was a pipe and in one hand was a long gnarled stick of wood.

"Brian, we need your help against a vampire."

Brian looked around him. "This lovely lass? Ye'll be funnin' me. She's harmless."

Simone bared her fangs.

Brian laughed. "All right, not harmless. But you'll not be needin' me for her, will ye?"

"No, it's another vampire. Far more powerful and more deadly. We'll need you to help guard The Library."

"Of course. For a ton of gold Oi'll be happy ta help."

"A ton?' Judson cried.

"And not an ounce less."

"Who is this?" Flynn broke in.

"Who am Oi, ye'r askin'? Oi'm Brian Boru, the last true High King of Ireland, slain at the battle of Clontarf in the year o' Our Lord 1014, is who Oi am."

"And you'll help us against a powerful vampire?" Simone said, not trying to hide the amusement in her voice.

Brian waved his shillelagh at her just briefly. Simone felt woozy and collapsed against Flynn.

"Do ye believe that I can defeat yer vampire now, lass?"

Simone nodded.

"One problem, Brian can't leave the confines of The Library. He just can't." Judson said.


	14. Chapter 14

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Fourteen

By UCSbdad

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle, which is okay. But not owning Kate Beckett or Simone Renoir, that's difficult. Rating: M, here and there. Time: After season eight, before children.

Phones, financials and security cameras showed nothing of any use in the murder of Francis Warren. Kate was cursing under her breath when Ryan stuck his head into her office. "We may have something."

"What?" Rick and Kate said together.

"Warren had an attorney. Guess where she worked?"

Kate directed a mild glare towards the Irish detective.

"Um, her name is Martine Beswick and she works for Grace and Vollmer, the law firm where our very first victim worked."

Kate smiled for the first time that morning. "Grab Espo and go talk to them."

As soon as the two detectives arrived at the law firm, they were met by a tall, slender, but very busty redhead. "Detectives Ryan and Esposito? Homicide, 12th Precinct?"

"Yes, but how did you know we were coming? We didn't call ahead or anything"

The redhead laughed. "As soon as Mr. Grace heard about poor Mr. Warren, he knew you'd be coming to see us. He'd like to see you if he could."

Ryan and Espo exchanged glances. "Sure." Ryan finally said.

They were ushered into the same luxurious office that Rick and Kate had interviewed Vollmer in. "You were expecting us, sir?" Espo asked.

Grace laughed and nodded." I may not do any criminal law, but I know what an odd coincidence looks like to the police. It looks like it isn't a coincidence at all. So, what do you need from me?"

"What can you tell us about Ms. Beswick?" Ryan began.

"Not all that much, I'm afraid. We got Ms. Beswick when we merged with Hoya and Stroh. They specialize in tech issues. Ms. Beswick was an expert in copyrighted computer codes. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you. When she'd explain where we were on a case, I'd try to look wise, but usually I had no clue what she was talking about."

"What can you tell us about Mr. Warren?"

"Very little. Warren and Martine were both alumni of Hudson University. They met at some sort of alumni affair when he needed a lawyer. He was her client well before she worked here."

"You don't know of anyone who had any reason to want Mr. Warren dead."

Grace shook his head vigorously. "Not at all. He used to come to our annual Christmas parties. It's a big deal to have a celebrity at those. But I didn't really know the man."

"Okay, we'd like to talk to Ms. Beswick now, if we may?

"Certainly, certainly." He punched a button on his desk. "Carol, would you ask Ms. Beswick to come in here, please?"

There was a long pause before the secretary came back on. "I'm sorry, sir. But it appears that Ms. Beswick didn't come to work today."

Grace frowned. "What did she tell Mr. Palmer about not being in today?"

"Nothing, sir. Mr. Palmer told me she didn't call, text, e-mail or anything. He tried to call her before a one o'clock meeting with EyeTech, but it went straight to voicemail."

"When was she last seen here?"

"Apparently when she went to lunch yesterday, sir."

Grace shook his head. "I can't explain this. She's normally a very reliable person. Very reliable."

"We'll need her home address." Esposito said.

It did not look good for Ms. Beswick. Her condo showed all the signs of a hurried, but well planned departure. Her phone, tablet and laptop were all gone, as were about half the clothes in her bedroom based on the number of empty hangers and drawers. The two detectives found nothing useful.

Once back at the 12th Precinct, they briefed Kate. "It looks like she fled. Things are messy, but not like the place was tossed. We've asked for her phones and financials, so we'll know more tomorrow."

Kate nodded. "Okay, you two go home. Castle and I are going to stay here for a while and talk to Simone when she comes in."

Espo frowned. "Do you really have to deal with a woman who thinks she's a vampire? I mean, no one says anything to you and Castle, but we get teased. It's embarrassing."

Castle laughed. "Just tell them that they're just jealous that you get to work with the two most beautiful woman in the world, and they don't."

Espo started to say something but thought better of it. _Anything I say that implies that Beckett is not one of the most beautiful women in the world will piss off Castle, and since Simone looks exactly like Beckett….It's just not worth it._

He nodded. "See you tomorrow."

Shortly after dark, both Simone and Flynn arrived. As soon as they were in Kate's office, Flynn spoke up. "Simone thinks she's being tracked by the vampire."

Simone nodded. "I can feel his aura at the very limit of my senses. It's almost like he wants me to know he's there."

"Would you like police protection?" Kate asked.

She shook her head. "I'm safe at The Library and between Flynn and myself, we should be able to fight off any vampire. We took down Dracula after all."

"I'm still worried." Flynn said. "But I can't see that police protection would help."

"Can you go to a crime scene with us?" Kate asked. "We have a possible suspect in a vampire type killing." Kate explained about the death of Francis Warren and the sudden disappearance of Martine Beswick, his attorney.

Simone nodded. "I'm positive the killer is a male, but with millions of people in New York, it could have more than one vampire. We'll go."

Flynn looked like he'd like to disagree, but said nothing.

The four left the precinct in Kate's unmarked car, but they were noticed. A figure deep in the shadows watched them leave and smiled.

Once at Warren's place, Simone walked around. Then she smiled. "It's him. The same one that killed all the rest killed Warren…."

"Are you sure?" Kate asked.

"Yes, but there was another vampire here. A much weaker vampire. I think a woman, but it's hard to tell"

"Beswick?" Both Rick and Kate asked at once.

"Can we go to her place?"

The four left Warren's home and drove to Martine Beswick's condo. Once inside, all four looked around. Kate agreed with her detective's assessment. Ms. Beswick had left in a hurry. There was no sign that anyone had disturbed her place after she left.

Simone walked through the entire place, going into every closet and looking in every drawer and even under all of the furniture. "Our killer vampire was here along with another vampire. The other vampire is a woman, I'm sure of it."

"Does our killer have a partner?" Rick asked. "Are we looking at a gang of vampires?"

Kate gave him a look.

Castle looked away. "That isn't as cool as I once would have thought it would be."

"No kidding." Kate murmured under her breath.

Simone shrugged. "I confess that I've never wanted the company of other vampires. But my experience is that vampires are solitary creatures. They consider themselves as being at the top of the food chain, so to speak. They have no desire to be reminded that there are those as powerful as they are. But, I suppose a powerful male vampire might want a less powerful lady vampire around. Not just for sex, but to show off to." Simone laughed. "It can be very hard on a vampire to have such a high opinion of himself and no one to appreciate your superiority."

"A vampire with an ego problem?" Rick wondered.

"You have something in common." Kate teased.

Simone shook her head. "No. No one is as egotistical as a vampire."

"I was just teasing."

"And I know one vampire who has no ego problem." Flynn said quickly.

Simone smiled. "Cheeky boy. We'll see who has a problem tonight back at The Library."

"Is the vampire, the new one, Beswick?" Kate asked.

Simone shrugged. "I have no way to tell." Simone thought for a second. "But based on everything here, I'd think it likely."

Kate nodded. "Me, too. But what do we do now?"

"Try to find the woman. If she's just recently been made a vampire, I can defeat her. She may have enough humanity left so that she'll help us." Simone waited a second. "But probably not."

Three days passed with nothing that could help in either the death of Warren or the disappearance of Beswick. Things changed on the fourth day.

Espo stuck his head into Kate's office at the end of the day. "Don't leave yet, we may have a good lead. Grace and Vollmer called. It seems they found that Beswick used another attorney's computer to look up properties that the law firm had access to. They think she settled on a place in rural north New Jersey, almost to the Pennsylvania state line. Isolated, no neighbors for a couple of miles. The owner was a client of Grace and Vollmer and had a will with them naming her daughter as her heir. Her only known living relative. But the daughter died and the firm has been trying to find any next of kin. They have a power of attorney and have given us permission to go in. Ryan's coordinating with the local police. We're ready to go."

"Give me a second to call Flynn and Simone."

Espo just looked away.

Kate and Rick picked Simone and Flynn at The Library and headed across the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey and then north and west. Kate got a call from Ryan that a local police officer had driven to a hilltop some three hundred yards from the house and had reported that everything was quiet. He had been told to wait for the New Jersey State Police and Kate's team.

Kate pulled her car up behind several State Police vehicles and the lone local police car on the reverse slope to the hill overlooking the house where Beswick was thought to be.

"It's totally quiet, Captain Beckett." The senior NJSP officer told her. "We don't see any heat sources with our night vision goggles, but Officer Hendricks, the local cop says the garbage can has fresh trash beside it, like someone got sloppy putting out the trash recently. She could be inside."

Kate nodded. "Okay, just remember that she's not wanted for anything. We just want to talk to her. Do you want to lead the way?"

The State Police headed for their vehicles and soon the convoy of police cars pulled up in front, disgorging officers. Two ran to the back of the house and the rest congregated by the front door.

"We have a key to the door." Espo said, reaching into his pocket.

"Not necessary, Detective. The door's open." The trooper opened the door and the state police ran in, announcing themselves as police. As they searched each room, they would call out "Clear."

Then they heard, "Oh, shit. In here. In the kitchen."

Martine Beswick was indeed in the house. She was naked on a large kitchen table with a wooden stake through her heart.

"That's the weirdest thing I ever saw." Someone said.

Kate looked over her shoulder at Simone and Flynn, who, not being police and being unarmed, had been the last people into the house. Simone just shrugged.

"Officer Hendricks, this is your jurisdiction and your case, but I'd like our ME, Dr. Parish, to handle the autopsy. Would that be okay with your department?"

Hendricks grimaced. "Is this something to do with the crazy vampire killings in New York?"

Kate nodded. "Alleged vampire like killings."

"I'll have to talk to my chief, but we only have a part time coroner and I'm sure old Doc Bukowski has never in his life seen anything like this. Let me go get on the horn to the chief."

They followed Hendricks out to his vehicle where Kate, the NJSP and Hendricks had a long discussion about Beswick's remains. Eventually, the chief decided to let the NYPD have the body. The chief sounded relieved at that prospect.

The New Jersey police left Kate, Rick, Simone and Flynn alone with the body. Ryan and Esposito left shortly thereafter. As soon as they had left, Simone spoke. "Can I examine the body?"

"Why?"

"To check for fangs, of course."

Kate nodded.

"I never thought I'd ever hear you agree to let someone check a body for fangs." Rick said softly.

"You still haven't heard anything. I just nodded." She snapped. She was sorry at once. "Sorry, babe. This has been hard on me."

Rick kissed her cheek. "I'll make it all better tonight."

They followed Simone to the kitchen where she opened Beswick's mouth. To their surprise, her teeth were normal. Then Simone pushed on the corpse's cheekbones and two fangs slid down.

"Oh my God." Rick whispered.

"She was a vampire." Simone concluded. "But from the aura I can still sense, she wasn't one for very long. But the aura of the other killer vampire is very strong here."

"Is there blood in her?" Rick asked.

Simone checked the area around the stake in her heart. "Yes, and I'd expect there to be. A vampire needs fresh, preferably human blood."

"So one vampire killed another?" Rick asked.

"Yes." Simone said bitterly. "Another one just like me killed by someone just like me." She turned and put her arms around Flynn and held him tightly.

Kate put her hand on her shoulder. "You're not like them because you have fangs and drink blood. You're like us because of your heart, mind and soul. You're one of us, Simone. You always have been and always will be. Always."

"Thank you." Simone mumbled into Flynn's chest, then turned around and smiled. "Thank you so much."

Kate's phone rang. "Beckett." There was a brief pause, followed by, "See you in five." She turned to the other three. "That was Lanie Parish, our ME. She'll be here in five."

Lanie made some preliminary tests and then loaded the corpse into the morgue's van. Kate and her party followed her back to Manhattan.

Once Ms. Beswick was on the steel table in the morgue, Lanie gripped the stake through her heart to remove it.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Rick asked. "Vampires are supposed to come back to life if you pull the stake out."

Lanie glared at him and Kate just rolled her eyes. Rick felt better when he saw that Simone rolled her eyes as well. _If a real vampire isn't worried, why should I be?_ He thought.

Lanie pulled the stake out and put it aside. Then things got weird. Very weird. For a few seconds Ms. Beswick looked like a woman in her mid-thirties in excellent physical shape. Then she began to change. Her hair grew sparser and lost its body. Her body lost its tone and her skin became wrinkled and spotted. Then her bones began to poke through and she began losing muscle mass. In a minute, her organs were visible and they began to disintegrate. Soon she was just a skeleton, then the bones began to turn to powder, then the powder disappeared. Then there was nothing left of her. Nothing at all.

"What the hell…?" Lanie stared at the table in disbelief. "That's impossible." She ran her hands over the steel table, unable to believe that a body had simply vanished as she watched. "You saw that didn't you?"

Kate nodded. "We all saw it."

Lanie headed for the office phone. "I have to report this." She stopped. "Who the hell do I report this to? What happened was…impossible. It was impossible."

Simone looked at Kate. "We need to tell her."

Kate looked at Lanie.

"What the hell do you two have to tell me?" Lanie demanded.

Kate nodded to Simone.

"That happened because Ms. Beswick was a vampire." Simone said simply.

"Bullshit! Kate, why do you have some crazy woman who thinks she's a vampire on this case anyway? Now I need to call someone to explain this. A real explanation." Lanie reached for her phone.

With a whoosh of air, Simone instantly crossed to stand next to Lanie, opening her mouth to show her fangs. Then she tucked one finger under the waistband of Lanie's pants and lifted her straight up in the air. "I am a vampire. I drink blood, I am stronger than any human who has ever lived and I can move instantly from one place to another. But I am not a bad person. I'm helping Captain Beckett because I hate what I was turned into and I want to stop other vampires from preying on humans. You can believe me or not." Simone smiled. "I would suggest you believe me." She put Lanie down.

"She's a vampire?" A clearly shaken Lanie asked.

"Yes. And she's a good person." Kate told her. "She's been a big help."

Lanie stared at the empty table. "How the hell am I supposed to explain that? Bodies don't just disappear from my morgue."

Kate shrugged. "Write up a report saying an unlatched door on your van opened and the body flew out. We were unable to find it. We crossed a couple of rivers. Pick one and say the body floated away. I'll take the heat for you."

Lanie headed for her computer. "Friendly vampires? Disappearing bodies? What next?" She mumbled as she tried to compose a report to explain the loss of a body.

Rick and Kate drove Simone and Flynn back to The Library.

"One thing." Simone said as they all got out of the car. "I'm positive that our killer both turned Beswick and killed her which means that…." Suddenly Simone whirled to face Kate. "Look out!"

A shapeless dark mass appeared behind Kate, enveloped her and disappeared. They were both gone.

"Kate!" Castle screamed.


	15. Chapter 15

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Fifteen

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own zero Castle. Zero squared, in fact. Rating: M, in spots. Time: After season eight and before children.

"Where the hell is Kate?" Castle screamed, running around the car to where she'd been.

"We need to get inside The Library now." Simone told him, dragging him away.

"Hold on." Flynn said, bending over to pick up something. "He left a phone behind. He's going to contact us."

And in seconds there was an incoming text message. "Have the slut who ruts with animals bring the Chalice to me. Have her get it now. You have six minutes until the next message. If you fail, I'll make the woman mine for eternity."

The three ran into The Library.

"What does he mean by the part about rutting with animals?" Castle asked.

"That's what he thinks humans are. Just food for him and his kind." Simone replied, practically carrying Castle at a run. "And he thinks I'm less than that because I love Flynn."

Suddenly Judson appeared beside them, moving very rapidly for someone his age. "He grabbed Mrs. Castle?"

"Yes, and he wants the Chalice in return for her." Flynn explained.

"What do you propose, Flynn?" Judson asked.

"We'll have to trust Simone."

Simone jumped to where the Chalice was, then jumped back to the other three, being careful to bring one other thing with her.

"Six minutes are almost up." Flynn said, looking at his watch and at the cell phone.

After exactly six minutes, another text message appeared. "The slut will go the roof of a building at the north east corner of 17th and Lexington. She has three minutes."

Simone kissed Flynn, then turned to Rick. "I'll get her back." Then she was gone in an instant.

It took her five jumps to reach the roof. Once there, she found another phone. Seconds after she picked it up, there was another text message directing her to go to an alley in upper Manhattan. From there she was directed all over the Five Boroughs of New York City.

Once she landed in an alleyway to find a homeless man holding up a cell phone he'd just found.

"I believe that's mine, sir." Simone said politely.

"Fuck off. Mine." He slurred.

Simone smiled and knocked him unconscious. "I am sorry, but it is for me." She got another text and was off again.

She finally arrived at an abandoned building in the South Bronx. She didn't need a text to tell her that she had found the killer vampire. She could sense his aura and followed it into the building. Once inside she carefully went up the stairs, his aura growing stronger as she went. On the third floor, she knew she was very close. Walking down a hallway, she stopped in front of a half open door and went inside.

Kate was sitting in a sturdy wooden chair, gagged and with her hands behind her. Simone assumed her hands were handcuffed behind her. Behind her was the vampire she'd sought, still dressed in a shapeless black outfit. She could tell nothing about him, however, he did appear to be taller and heavier than she was. She hoped that was just his clothing.

"You've brought the Chalice to me. Hand it over." He held out his hand.

His voice was deep and she was sure it electronically altered.

Simone smiled. "I think not. I think I'll kill you instead and keep the Chalice for myself."

He laughed. "You'll kill me? Do you have any idea who I am, little girl?"

"You're someone without the Judas Chalice. I've been working with The Library. You'd be surprised at how much knowledge they've accumulated over the centuries."

He laughed. "The Library. A bunch of humans? Your brains have been addled by giving yourself to an animal. Now hand over the Chalice and I might let you live as my concubine."

"Me and you? Don't be absurd."

He laughed again. "Let me tell you a story, little girl. My name, my real name, is Gnaeus Pompieus Strabo. I was a tribune of Rome and commanded the Sixth Ironclad Legion, the Legio VI Ferrata, in Judea. My legion was suppressing Jewish rebels when my men brought a madman to me. He claimed that he had betrayed the son of God. What a joke. There were lots of gods and they had lots of sons. But this one said there was but one God and he could prove it to me. He leaned in closely and then bit my neck. The bastard overpowered my guards and fled, but later hung himself. I was injured and was taken to Jerusalem to recover. I was ill for several days, but then I got better. I got more than better. I became a god! I had the Chalice and studied it for centuries. Then it was stolen from me when the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410AD. Then that non-entity Dracula stole it from me and hid it away. I searched for centuries and couldn't find it." He smiled coldly. "Until now."

"You were turned by Judas Iscariot himself." Simone whispered. She was now less than sure that she could take this vampire.

"I am the oldest and most powerful vampire there is. And you think that you can kill me?" He laughed again. As he laughed he jumped at Simone, who had been expecting it. She jumped herself and he missed her by inches.

Kate watched in amazement as the two vampires jumped from one part of the room to another. No sooner did one manage to grab hold of the other than they were apart again. The killer vampire suddenly was behind Simone and had his hands around her neck and just as suddenly she was gone.

Then the vampire appeared in front of her and grabbed the Chalice with both hands. That was what Simone had been waiting for. She reached under her jacket and thrust a sharpened aspen wood stake at the other vampire's heart. Before it struck, his hand blocked her thrust, but the wood slashed his hand. Simone saw the hand change from a strong, powerful hand to an old, withered hand. The vampire screamed in pain and Simone struck again at this heart, but his arm blocked her and drove the stake upwards and into his eye. She felt it penetrate and he screamed. Without thinking, she struck him in the head with the Chalice. There was a flash of green light and the enemy staggered backwards and then disappeared.

"We have to get out of here in case he comes back." Simone said, hurrying to Kate's side. "I don't think he will, but better safe than sorry.

"I'm handcuffed to the chair and he has my key."

Simone smiled. "That's the least of our problems." She stood behind Kate and easily broke the thick wooden chair's back. Then she pulled Kate to a standing position and grabbed her handcuffs and pulled them apart. The chain holding the two cuffs together snapped.

Kate looked down at her hands. "You _are_ strong."

"I'd get the cuffs themselves off of your wrists, but I might break your wrist or arm. Come on."

Simone picked Kate up and jumped with her to the street below. She couldn't move as fast or as far as she could by herself, but they got there quickly. Once on the sidewalk, Simone handed the phone she'd been given to Kate. "Call the police for a ride back to your precinct."

There was a patrol car there in under a minute and Kate and Simone were taken back to the precinct. When they got there, they found the place in an uproar.

"Hastings, what the hell happened?" Kate demanded.

The blonde detective looked up from her desk. A teenaged girl was sitting across from her, crying. "There's been a rash of kidnappings. All young people out for a good time. Same perp it looks like. Some guy dressed from head to toe in black. He seems to appear out of nowhere, grabs a person and disappears. At least that's the story we get. Some of these people are a little high."

"I'm not hallucinating, or drunk, or stoned." The girl insisted. "On minute Jimmy was with us, the next minute he'd been grabbed. Will you believe me?"

"I know. Please believe me, we are taking this very, very seriously." Hastings said comfortingly.

Kate and Simone went back to her office.

"Damn it!" Simone growled. "He needs blood after I injured him. Lots of it and he's grabbing people of the streets. He's desperate."

"What are the chances we'll find these people alive?"

Simone shook her head slowly. "You won't. They're dead. All dead. Damn him. God damn him to Hell."

"What did you use on him back there?"

Simone pulled the stake out. "A sharpened aspen wood stake. Judas Iscariot, the very first vampire, hung himself from an aspen tree. Stabbing a vampire with an aspen stake is one way to kill a vampire. The other is to cut off the head."

Kate thought for a moment. "What if I took the bullets out of my pistol rounds and replace it with a bullet of aspen wood? Would that work?"

Simone smiled. "You are smart. I've never thought of that."

"It comes from having a husband who practices for the zombie apocalypse. You start to think like he does."

"But there are no zombies."

"Until just recently, I thought there were no vampires. So let's not rush to judgment."

Simone just shrugged. "If you think so."

Rick suddenly burst through the elevator doors and headed straight for Kate at a trot. She stuck her head out of her office. "Rick? Over here." She glared at him to remind him of what she'd told him on the phone in the patrol car. To not act like anything had happened. If anyone found out that Kate had been kidnapped, that would lead to a lot of questions that they didn't want to have to answer.

Rick slowed down and walked calmly into her office. Only when he was inside did he let his fears show. "You're okay?" He took her hand.

"Thanks to Simone. She fought him off." Kate explained what had happened and the aftermath of kidnappings and presumably murders by the injured vampire.

"We need to get everyone that's important to us to The Library." Kate said.

"The Library? What can they do?"

"We have a very powerful vampire deterrent. Unfortunately, he can't leave The Library." Simone explained.

"We should get your dad, Alexis and Martha, Jenny and the kids, Lanie and Ryan and Esposito."

Kate frowned. "Ryan and Espo are cops. They signed up for this, the same as I did."

"Yeah, but they can't do anything?"

"Maybe they can with new bullets."

It took a few hours but soon everyone was in The Library. Judson was playing with the Ryan children so Kate could talk to the adults.

"There's no easy way to say this, but what we're dealing with is a real vampire. Luckily, we have a real vampire to help us. Simone Renoir is not a woman suffering from the delusion she's a vampire, she really is a vampire. With some abilities that are unusual for a vampire."

Espo laughed. "Have you completely lost your mind? There are no such things as vampires. This is just a crazy woman and now I'm worried about you. We should…"

Before Esposito could finish the sentence, he found that Simone had somehow moved from beside Kate to right in front of him. She opened her mouth, showing her fangs and screamed at him, her eyes lighting up oddly. Her hands locked his arms to his sides and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break her hold on him. Suddenly, he found himself on the stone railing over a huge pool with some sort of gigantic creature swimming in it.

"You think I'm not a vampire. Do you?" Simone screamed. "Perhaps I could drop you into the Loch Ness Monster's pool." She held Esposito straight out, her arms not even quivering a bit from the strain. Then she disappeared. Espo fell, looking down at the gigantic thing below him.

Suddenly, Simone was beside him. She grabbed him with one hand and suddenly he was on the far side of the pool, with Simone still holding him over the water.

"Okay, okay. Just stop." Espo yelled.

"You think I'm a real vampire?" Simone asked with a smile.

"I think you're anything you want me to think you are."

"Good enough." She winked at him and suddenly he was back where he started, beside his partner, Ryan.

"You really are a vampire?" The Irish detective asked in a whisper.

"You need a demonstration, too?"

Jenny stepped between her husband and Simone. "No, not at all. You're a vampire and I'm guessing a good vampire."

Between the two of them, Kate and Simone told her life's story, from her being turned to a vampire some four hundred years before to Simone's rescue of Kate that night.

"Simone's a real vampire? And a friendly one? That is so cool." Alexis said.

Kate turned to her step-daughter. "Alexis, we can never let anyone know about Simone. If the government found out about her, or her kind…Well, I can't see anything good happening to her. She's my friend and our ally, so I want you all to promise that this never leaves The Library."

Everyone agreed.

"But if we are fighting a real vampire, how can we fight him off? Garlic? Crosses? Silver bullets?" Ryan asked.

Simone laughed. "All garlic will do is make any pretty vampire not want to kiss you. Crosses don't work. Vampires aren't Christian and no religious symbol of any sort will even slow one down. As far as silver bullets go, that's an old wives tale. The only real way to kill a vampire is to cut its head off, or stab it in the heart with a stake of aspen wood."

"Or knock its head off with an aspen shillelagh." Said a voice with a thick Irish brogue from behind them. Standing there was a tall, heavily built man with blond hair and blue eyes. On his head was a simple gold crown. The rest of him was covered by a suit of silvered chain mail. In his hand was a huge wooden club.

"Who are you?" Ryan asked.

"I'm Brian Boru, the last true High King of Ireland."

"But you were killed at Clontarf in 1014." Ryan did know his Irish history.

King Brian laughed loudly. "That I was, lad. The Vikings who attacked us were led by three vampires. But with my trusty shillelagh I killed all three of them by knocking their heads off. But as I knelt to thank God for my victory, a Viking slew me, or so I thought. I can't explain what happened, but now I sleep until someone needs my help against vampires." Brian stared at Judson. "And who can meet my price." His hand slammed down on Ryan's shoulder, almost dropping the smaller detective to his knees. "Don't worry, lad. As long as your lady and your bairns are in The Library, I'll keep them safe. But I cannot leave here."

"Excuse me, King Brian, but weren't you a bit different when we first met?" Flynn asked. "A bit shorter, perhaps?"

The King glared at the librarian. "Minor external differences. Very minor."

Flynn gulped. "Very minor, of course."

"So how the hell do we take down this killer vampire?" Espo asked angrily.

"I have an idea and Simone thinks it'll work. We'll use aspen wood bullets. That should kill a vampire."

"Just be careful where you shoot those things, boys." Simone said. "Someone could get hurt."

The next morning, Rick, Kate, Ryan and Espo as well as Flynn returned to the precinct. They were surprised to see Simone show up a half an hour later.

"Are you sure you should be here in daylight?" Flynn said, worriedly.

"We can find you someplace where the sun won't hit you." Kate added.

"I'm covered except for my face and I have a broad brimmed hat and sunglasses. I've been exposed to sunlight since Flynn killed Dracula in Louisiana. I get sunburned rather easily, but I stopped and bought sun block." She giggled. "Imagine a vampire wearing sunblock." Simone was suddenly serious. "Besides, something happened when I hit the other vampire with the Judas Chalice. There was a flash of green light and something happened."

"What?" Flynn asked.

"I don't know. But something happened to me. I was changed. Whether for good or bad, I don't know. I can feel it, but I don't know what it is. "

Flynn put his arm around her. "Okay, but if anything bad happens, I'm going to get you out of the sunlight, so don't fight me."

" _Moi_? Fight you?" Simone kissed him. "You are _so_ sweet, Flynn. No wonder I love you."

"As I love you."

Simone sighed. "But, to business. What's happened?"

Kate was grim. "You were right. All of the kidnapped people have turned up dead. Seven of them. All drained of blood. The press is going crazy and the mayor and police commissioner and the chief of police have been on my phone constantly. We have a map of where the bodies were found to see if we can find any pattern. Would you look at it?"

No one could find any pattern to the places where the bodies were found and nothing the many police investigating the murders had done were of any help.

Kate got very little work done that day because she was on the phone assuring some VIP or another that the NYPD and the 12th Precinct were hard at work on the case.

She leaned her head against Rick's chest. "I really need to tell them that we'd be even harder at work if they'd stop calling me. It's driving me crazy."

"But it's making New Yorkers feel safer to know that Captain Kate Castle is on the case."

"Like feeling safer is the same as being safer." Kate snorted. She checked her watch. "We should head for The Library."

"Kate, can I talk to you first?" Simone said from the doorway to Kate's office.

Rick kissed his wife. "I'll start organizing things."

Simone closed the door. "I've talked to some people about you. You had trouble accepting your feelings for Rick before because you two were so different. He as a wealthy author and you were a cop. Is that correct?"

Kate nodded. "I'm afraid it is. I should have gotten together with Rick years before, but I was afraid. It caused us a lot of trouble and I'll regret what I did to my dying day."

Simone nodded. "I love Flynn. I've loved before, other…human men, but it was never like this. I hate the thought of my life without him, but he'll grow old and die and I'll still be a young woman. After he killed Dracula, I wanted to die, to give my soul a rest. But I lived due to the Chalice. Now, living without Flynn….I don't think I could do it. I love him so much and I'm so afraid of losing him." Simone began to cry quietly.

Kate put her arms around the other woman's shoulders. "A very good friend of mine once told me that risking our hearts is what were here for and that we should never wonder, "If only." And Rick once told me that the heart wants what the heart wants. He was right. Go with your heart, Simone. Love Flynn for as long as you can. Don't regret not being with him."

Simone smiled at Kate. "Thank you."

"Now, we should go join everyone and get back to The Library."

As soon as the two women stepped into the 12th Precinct's garage, they heard yelling.

Kate ran to the sounds. "Espo! What is it?'

"The bastard has Castle. Rick just looked outside and he got grabbed. I tried to shoot him with the wooden bullets, but he just disappeared. He's gone."


	16. Chapter 16

Interrogation of a Vampire

Chapter Sixteen

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: If I didn't won Castle for the first fifteen chapters, do you think I'd own it now? Rating: This part is K. Time: After season eight and before children.

Kate was frantic, running outside with her sidearm drawn. "Rick! Rick, where are you?"

Simone grabbed her and pulled her back into the garage. "Stay here where your friends can cover you with their pistols."

"He would have left a phone. He left a phone before." Kate was starting to lose it.

"I'll go out and look for a phone. You stay with one of your detectives and could you have the other one cover me from in here?" Kate nodded blankly. "Kate!" Simone said loudly. "You need to concentrate. You won't help Rick if you fall apart now."

As Kate had been able to do since her mother died, Kate pushed her fears into a compartment in her mind and became her calm, controlled self. But it had never been this hard to do before. "I'm okay now." She glanced over her shoulder. "Ryan, stay here with me. Espo, go to the garage door and cover Simone."

Simone walked carefully onto the sidewalk. She pulled a small flashlight from her purse and began checking the ground near where Rick had been. There was nothing on the sidewalk and nothing on the street. She walked to two police cars parked in front of the precinct and looked under them and around them. There was nothing.

"There's no phone."

Kate was starting to lose it again. "Keep looking! There _must_ be a phone!" She whispered, "Please let there be a phone. I can't lose Rick."

Simone went over the area again and again found nothing. "There's nothing here. We need to get back to The Library."

"No!" Kate said determinedly. "I won't leave."

Simone walked back to her. She put her hand on the other woman's shoulder. "Kate, he took Rick. He won't bring him back. We have to go to The Library so we'll all be safe. Okay?"

Kate nodded and allowed herself to be led to her car. Simone got in the driver's seat. Kate didn't object.

Once at The Library, Kate couldn't settle down and go to sleep. Flynn offered her something to help her sleep, which she declined. She eventually did lie down for a while but was up at 4AM, headed for the precinct. Ryan, Esposito, Simone and Flynn wearily followed her. Kate set up a murder board, or perhaps a missing board would be a better term and out what little evidence was available on it. All police force in the Tri-State area were alerted and photos of Rick were sent to every cop in those states.

Naturally, some of this leaked out and the news media was soon reporting that Rick Castle, famed novelist and husband of NYPD Captain Kate Castle, was missing and that it had something to do with what the NYPD was still insisting was the "so called vampire killings."

The phone calls from One PP and from the news media had gotten so bad that Kate had finally had some uniforms answer those calls.

"Why the hell doesn't he call with the ransom demand?" She said, sitting in her office with her two detectives, Simone and Flynn.

"He wants us to get upset and emotional." Espo replied. "That way when he does make his demands, we'll be so happy to be doing something, we'll do something stupid. Walk right into a trap."

"Suppose Castle is already…." Kate found she couldn't say the word "dead". "Suppose he isn't coming back?"

Simone shook her head. "He's coming back. The killer has already fed and fed well. He isn't interested in Rick, or you, or me or anyone else. All he cares about is the Judas Chalice. Of course, if he gets that, we're all in trouble. But we'll get your husband back. I promise."

"Don't make any promises you can't keep." Kate said bitterly.

Ryan motioned to Esposito. "We should go check traffic cams. And we probably have some private security cam footage in now." As the two detectives stood, Flynn got up too. "Need some help? I feel useless just sitting here."

All three left, leaving Simone alone with Kate.

"I've led a very solitary life, you know. Almost all of the humans I've ever met would have hated me and feared me if they had found out what I really was. In some four hundred years, I've had two lovers and about as many friends who knew what I was."

Kate managed a brief smile. "I've found out what you really are and I don't hate or fear you. I'm happy to have you as a friend. You're a good _person_ , Simone."

Simone smiled back. "I have had so very few friends. Which is why I value the friendship you and Rick have given so highly. Believe me, I will do anything to get Rick back for you."

Kate suddenly didn't like the sound of the word anything. "What do you mean by anything?"

"If we have to, I'll go to the authorities and disclose what I am. Once it becomes clear that there is a real killer vampire loose, the government can mobilize all of its resources against this monster. As an individual, he's very powerful, but against thousands of humans, he'd eventually be defeated."

"And what will happen to you?" Kate demanded.

Simone shrugged. "I'll just have to take my chances. And there may be other ways to catch him."

"Which could lead to your death."

"Even for vampires, everything leads to death, eventually."

"You're not going to die or end up as some government guinea pig if I have anything to say about it."

"You may not have a say, Kate."

"Like hell."

Ryan knocked on Kate's door and then stuck his head in. "They've found another body." Seeing the look of horror on Kate's face he quickly added, "It's a woman. In a parking garage by the Hudson River."

Kate grabbed her things. "Let's go."

The garage had been sealed off by the time they got there. Uniforms on the outside boredly keeping away the idle curious and the not so idly curious members of the media. Kate ignored the questions shouted at her as she drove past the yellow crime scene tape. She noticed that Simone had kept her face well hidden, leaning against Flynn while passing the cameras. No point in giving the press something else to wonder about. Arriving at the crime scene, she saw that Perlmutter was the attending ME.

"What do we have?"

"A dead person, Captain. Otherwise neither of us would be here."

Kate resisted the strong urge to do something she'd regret later. "Who found the body?"

Perlmutter gestured vaguely to his right. "Homeless guy found her. He'd set up his squat last night between the wall and the gray panel van. When he got up, he found her. According to the uniforms, he didn't see or hear anything. No ID on the body."

"Cause of death?"

"As a preliminary finding, it looks like the so called vampire killer. Two puncture wounds in the neck, penetrating to the jugular. Most of the blood was pumped out of her. I'd put time of death between 1 AM and four thirty when she was found."

"Anything else?"

"Her clothing was torn, but she wasn't sexually assaulted. I'd guess that she tried to get away and the perp grabbed her clothing to stop her. There are bruise markings on her chest and stomach. Whoever did this to her was very strong. She has at least two broken ribs. I'll know more once I get her on the slab."

"Send your report to me ASAP." Kate said. Perlmutter grunted.

She walked back over to her car and got in. "It's him, all right. But why kill another one?"

Neither Simone nor Flynn had any ideas.

Kate drove back to the precinct.

It was shortly after noon when Tory Ellis went to Kate's office. "We have an ID on the dead woman in the parking garage this morning. Maria Thaelman, age thirty two. And get this, she's a lawyer and works for Grace and Vollmer."

"There are just too many things in this case that lead to Grace and Vollmer. I'm going to go and talk with them."

"I'll go with you." Simone volunteered, "But we need to go by The Library first."

"What for?"

"My disguise, of course. We can't have Captain Castle being seen in public with a younger version of herself, can we? People would talk."

Kate drove to the parking lot under The Library and went in with Simone. Simone's disguise turned out to be a blonde wig pulled into a pony tail with a New Orleans Saints ball cap pulled down over her sunglasses. "How do I look?"

Kate nodded. "Less like me."

"But still too much like Katherine, dear." Martha said. "Luckily I always travel with some theatrical makeup. I got a part on _LA Law_ once because I met one of their producers at some diner. I used a little make up to convince him I could play a younger woman. Come with me."

Martha sat Simone down and began working on her. "We just need to work a bit on your cheeks dear and let's have some curls come down the side of your face. Where is my comb?" After a few minutes, Simone looked even less like Kate. "Put these in your mouth, dear."

"What are they?"

"Just cotton balls that I've made into a roll. Put one on each side of your mouth. It'll make your face look wider. And it'll change your voice ever so slightly."

Simone did so and looked in a mirror Martha held up. "I look like a chipmunk!"

"But you don't look like Kate Beckett, dear. Now remember, don't swallow the cotton or spit it out."

"You look fine." Kate said. "Besides, you're going undercover. Police do this all the time."

Simone agreed, more or less, and off they went to Grace and Vollmer. This time they were met by a rather ditzy brunette receptionist named Ella Baranski.

"I'm Captain Kate Castle, 12th Precinct. This is Ms. Renoir, a technical consultant. We're here about the death of one of your lawyers, Ms. Maria Thaelman."

The brunette nodded. "It's just terrible. Everyone is so upset. It's like that movie where everyone keeps dying."

"But it's not a movie. Can we talk to Mr. Grace?"

She shook her head. "Mr. Grace is on a business trip. San Francisco, I think. Or maybe Phoenix. One of those West Coast cities."

Before Kate could say anything, Simone took her arm. "May I speak to you, Captain?" Without waiting for a reply, she dragged Kate over to a corner. "He's here. Or he was. I can sense his aura." She whispered.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, can you stall her while I look around?"

Kate nodded and went back to the receptionist and began asking questions.

"This is such lovely furniture." Simone interrupted. "Would you mind awfully if I looked around a bit?" Simone started to walk around the office without waiting for a reply and Kate shot another question at the receptionist.

Kate was starting to run out of questions when Simone returned. "The furniture is so lovely. Would you mind awfully much if I looked into Mr. Grace's office."

The woman shook her head. "Mr. Grace doesn't like anyone in his office when he's not there, I'm afraid I can't…"

"Actually, I need to leave a note for Mr. Grace. To make sure he gets it, I'll need to leave it one his desk." Kate said quickly.

"Gee, I'm not sure…."

"This is official police business." Kate said, sounding as official as she could.

"Well, I guess…" Kate and Simone were past her before she could finish the sentence. Kate closed the door and Simone stood quietly in the center of the room.

"It's Grace. The aura is strongest here. It's Grace. I can almost feel him here." Simone slapped her forehead. "I am so stupid! He had the Judas Chalice for centuries. He studied it and learned its secrets. Just like I can go out in the sun, so can he. God only knows what else he learned to do with the Chalice."

"Whatever he learned, it wasn't enough for him." Kate said. "Otherwise, he wouldn't be so desperate to get his hands on it. We'll get him."

"If we can find him."

"According to Ms. Baranski, the receptionist, Thaelman was going to drop off some important paperwork at Grace's condo. She was planning on leaving it with the doorman, but if she saw Grace, or saw lights on in his place or something…."

Simone continued. "She would have investigated. If she saw Grace with blood on him, or suffering from the injuries I inflicted on him in the fight…."

"He would have killed her to keep her quiet." Kate finished. She grinned at Simone. "Usually just Rick and I do that. Are you trying to get a job as an unpaid, honorary, assistant NYPD homicide detective?"

"Perhaps." Simone said shyly. Then she shook her head. "Another, younger Kate Beckett look alike would cause too many questions. It would be interesting, though."

Kate took a piece of paper and an envelope from Grace's desk and wrote a short note:

To Gnaeus Pompieus Strabo.

I know who you are and I'm hunting you.

Captain Kate Castle

She stuffed it in an envelope, sealed it and put it in the center of his very neat desk.

"Now I have someone to hunt."

"Now we have someone to hunt." Simone corrected.

But the hunt went slowly. Grace wasn't at his condo, but they did find blood and bits of Thaelman's clothing there. It was enough for an arrest warrant for her murder and an APB for Grace.

Four days had gone by since Rick's kidnapping before they heard anything.

"Mail room says you got a package, Captain." LT said. "They called EOD just in case it's a bomb, but they think it's about the size of a cell phone."

Kate rushed to the mail room, only to be stopped by an EOD tech who wouldn't let her get any closer. After a half an hour, the bomb squad gave the all clear. It was only a cell phone. But, when Kate took it back to her office, there were no texts on it, nor did the memory hold any phone numbers. A quick check showed that the phone had been reported stolen weeks ago and probably then sold illegally. There was no way to trace where it had been.

Just after dark, there was a text message: "If Captain Beckett wants to hunt me, and retrieve her mate, she should get the Judas Chalice and go to the corner of 17th and Lexington by eight o'clock. She will get further orders there. If anyone, especially that human loving slut comes near me, the man dies. And if I don't get what I want, even more will die. You will see a bloodbath the likes of which New York has never seen."

"We need to go to The Library and get the Chalice."

Everyone followed Kate to The Library where she got the Chalice. Ryan and Espo was not happy about letting Kate do this alone. "You know he's going to kill you and Castle as soon as he gets his paws on this thing." Espo said.

"He'll try. But he doesn't know I have aspen wood bullets for my Glock. All I need is a clear shot while he's gloating over his precious and he's dead."

"Yeah. Maybe." Ryan said.

Kate made it to 17th and Lex with five minutes to spare. When she got there, she got a text telling her to drop her phone and go to a newspaper box and get another phone that was taped to the bottom. When she got the phone, she got more directions which led to another phone. Seven phones later, she was at another abandoned building in the South Bronx. _Jeez. Can't this guy use a little imagination?_ She thought.

She searched the building until she found Grace and Rick. Rick was tied up and laying in a corner. Grace stood over him.

"I'm not taking any chances that you'll try to stab me with an aspen stake, so throw the Chalice to me.

Kate took the Chalice from the pocket of her coat and held it up. "Is this what you want?"

Grace's eyes glittered with greed. "Yes. Yes! Give it to me now!"

Kate tossed it high in the air, so high it hit the ceiling. As Grace's eyes followed it, she drew her Glock and fired right into his chest. Nothing happened. In a flash, Kate knew what had gone wrong. Instead of firing a heavy lead slug encased in a shell of cupronickel, she had fired much lighter wooden round that didn't develop he kinetic energy to penetrate Grace's thick, black outfit.

"Aspen bullets?" Grace raged, suddenly in front of Kate with his one hand on her neck and the other holding down her gun hand. "I'm going to enjoy this." He opened his mouth and leaned forward. Kate saw his fangs and tried to hit him with her other hand. It was like beating on a brick wall.

Then an odd green light flashed and she heard a thunk and Grace pitched forward.

"I'm going to enjoy this, too." Simone screamed, striking Grace again and again on the head, each time causing a green flash that got brighter the more that Simone hit him. Grace began to sag and look woozy. Simone tore open his coat and shirt, revealing his bare chest. "Shoot him. Put the muzzle right up against him. Shoot! Shoot!'

Kate did just that, firing the remaining sixteen rounds of her clip into Grace. As she did so, Grace began to burn and what looked like human faces escaped from his burning body. Then Grace was no more. Not even ash.

Kate staggered over to Rick and undid his bonds, then kissed him. She turned to Simone. "Thanks."

Simone giggled a bit hysterically. "I only did what any unpaid, honorary, assistant NYPD homicide detective would do."

The official story was that Grace had been the so called vampire killer, but that he had escaped, badly wounded from a gunfight with the NYPD. Kate could hardly have told the truth. And as Grace was never seen again, eventually, he slipped form the minds of New Yorkers.

Once the _official_ word was out, Kate was briefed by her team with what had _really_ happened.

"We found out why Grace started killing. His law firm did pro bono work from a little storefront office in Spanish Harlem. All poor people, ex-cons, junkies, hookers, people with psych problems and such." Ryan began.

"Basically people who wouldn't be missed." Simone said.

"Grace kept an eye on the people they'd help at the store front. Then he'd grab one of them, take them to a place he had upstate out in the middle of nowhere and slowly drain them. "Ryan continued. "He kept notes. He could keep three or four people captive there, draining them of a couple of pints of blood and then letting them recover. Eventually, he'd kill them. We found thirty one corpses there."

"What happened?" Kate asked.

"The storefront law office pissed off a local gang. Lawyers started getting beaten up, robbed, one woman was raped. The lawyers wouldn't work there anymore. Grace had to close the place down and he suddenly needed a new supply of blood."

"So he reverted to the old fashioned way." Simone said bitterly. "The people he killed were people he knew or just strangers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"But we got him." Espo said. "With the aid of our new partner." He winked at Simone, who smiled and blushed.

Six months later, Simone came to Kate's office, looking upset. She closed the door behind her and sat down.

"Simone, what is it? Has something happened?"

Simone nodded and mumbled something.

"What was that?"

"I'm pregnant." Simone said softly. "I can't be. Vampires don't get pregnant. And Flynn proposed just before….before I took the pregnancy test. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do this. It's been four hundred years since I even thought about being pregnant."

"Simone, you're not alone."

"I know. You and Rick are such good friends. I'm so lucky to have you two."

"That's not what I meant. No one but Rick knows, but I'm pregnant, too."

Simone smiled. "That's wonderful. I'm so happy for you."

"Um, is being a vampire going to be a problem?"

"No, Judson says that The Library knows many people who understand the… unusual people who come to The Library. He has a pediatrician all set up for me. Judson is sure that the child won't be a vampire. I'm not sure how he could know that, but he is Judson, The Librarian. I do think I'm becoming more human, though. Perhaps one day I'll be all human again."

Kate and Simone talked for a half an hour about their pregnancies and decided to go to lunch together.

As they walked out of the precinct, they noticed a new batch of rookies just coming into the precinct from the police academy. One in particular attracted their attention.

"LT?" Kate began. "That rookie cop over there…."

"I know, Captain. Everyone has been talking about her."

"What's her name?"

"Officer Morgenstern, Captain."

"This should be interesting." Kate and Simone said together.

The End

 **Author's note: Next will be I, Spy. This is a sequel to Four of a Kind, and Alexis's in Wonderland. Once again, Rick, Kate and the other Simone will be visiting AU Earths, exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and strange new civilizations…Hey, that's pretty good. I'll have to remember that one. Anyway, they'll meet at least one Kate who isn't quite Kate and at least two Ricks who are also not what you might expect. I have some 32,000 words written and it'll be done…eventually.**


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